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Parte TURTLE
(ME-SHE-KIN-NO-QUAH)
THE GREAT CHIEF
OF THE
MIAMI INDIAN NATION
BEING A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE TOGETHER WITH THAT
OF WM. WELLS AND SOME. NOTED
DESCENDANTS
BY
CALVIN M. YOUNG
FLACK& GOLD
ILLUSTRATED
19'7
Prepared by the Staff of the
Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County
1956
Copyrighted, 1917
By CALVIN M. YOUNG
Greenville, Ohio
1600271
Historica] facts should not be a burden to the memory,
but an illumination to the soul.
—Lord Acton.
INDEX TO CHAPTERS.
Foreword
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter x
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Page
i Cig eee Asa 0) Sees Pa ae 7
ThesMiamisg 5 So 13
Ke-kiPon-gara ee Be ee 31
St. Clair’s Expedition________ AT
Wayne’s Campaign ________ 69
The Great Council Fire_______ 89
The Treaty of GreeneVille____ 103
Birthplace of Little Turtle____ 125
A Character Sketch__________ 135
Notes and Anecdotes_________ 145
Burial Place 2 oye eee 169
Captain William Wells_______ 179
‘Lhe Royal Line. 22223 2424e 197
Kil-so-quah, the Indian Princess 212
The Godfrey Family_________
Romantic Episodes
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
PAIGE ee oe le SA ongispiece
ERMC LOV epee ee tN NT oa aap 6
Pete ea LASSACTE fo) to ee ke wae 34
“LASWWEN GSS FEW 209 9 RE ND EY le 36
Nanetlarmarsetattlenield ois) bey eC uele 42,
Pro ra Su OV et bce eo is ge TT ee 45
Major-General Arthur St. Clair. _.__________ AT
Bolonel Richardibutlenies cu wee we ee 50
Fan of St: Clair’s Camp’ and: Baftle-______ 54
Lieutenant-Colonel William Darke__________~_ 55
Wayne Street, Fort Recovery_______________ 56
Concrete Bridge, Fort Recovery, Location St.
(CLALIT C iy tee 2 oe nies 2 nT
Major-General Antony Wayne_______________ 68
Outinerol PortyGreencVillet. os ea 69
Outhne Map ol DarkerCountyoos ok 74.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, as it appeared in 1794__ 87
Boulder Memorial, Greenville, Ohio__________ 90
GreeneVille Treaty Peace Pipe_______________ 103
GreeneVille Treaty Medal August 3, 1795_____ 114
Little Turtle’s Farewell Address_____________ 119
Piet ee Lure S) VaAlACerOlLe® tee ee 125
Map of Location of Little Turtle’s Village Site__ 126
Tee Rivera ei wemui es Uo. cam mene tes 129
Soldier’s Monument, Fort Recovery_________- 163
Pioneer Soldier at Base of Fort Recovery Monu-
WEN em, lage ae aR RN ae Eat 2 Sed R cs 164
View of Devil’s Lake with landscape scenery__ 165
Washington’s Sword from grave of Little
SSG: i Sip eile ld oe pies EIS late indi, Paiethed ch 170
Relics from. grave of: Little Turtle.- 72. 172-173
Face and Back View of Little Turtle’s Watch__ 175
eas VEE ariT WV Clic toy ees Setind ee ee ene, 178
Poneom yes) Gricos and Grandson. 25) 183
OER TOOT sul co) ee ee ee sen 186
iier, nichardville (Pe-che-wa) 0 203
Kil-so-quah the Indian Princess, Son and
TIC eeOIa. sce et a eee Tre ey mnrabes. Jee pio Bs
ireacy Neda. Andrew Jackson: vel ao mot
Sorencercourrey So ous au One 226
rea Co Cornell in Indian-eostune. ees 230
5
CALVIN M. YOUNG
Was born in Franklin Township, Darke County, Ohio, in 1851. Is a member
of both Stateand County Historical Societies, and is a local Historian of
considerable note. During several years past, Mr. Young has devoted
much time and research to collecting historical facts relative to Little
Turtle, the Great Miami Indian Chief. He has spared no time or expense
in making the following sketch as near complete as possible.
FOREW ORD.
Every great crisis in tribal or national life makes
a forceful appeal to the bold and aggressive spirits
found in all political bodies and calls forth leaders
from among these to meet the new and changing
conditions of the hour even at the hazard of life,
property and personal comfort.
This fact is forcibly illustrated in our own
national history by the lives of Washington, Lincoln,
Grant and many other heroic characters who estab-
lished, fostered and conserved our country.
We are not surprised, therefore, that the rapid
expansion of the New England and Coast Colonies
and the encroachment of the white man on the vir-
gin domain of the lower lake region and the Ohio
valley in the latter part of the eighteenth century
and later called forth three great Indian chieftains
in three successive generations, viz: Pontiac, the
Ottawa, in 1762; Little Turtle, the Miami, in 1790;
and Tecumseh, the Shawnee, in 1811. All these
were distinguished characters scarcely excelled for
bravery, military genius and statecraft by any other
American Indian chiefs from the earliest white set-
tlement to the present time.
Parkman has given us a vivid description of the
life and times of Pontiac; Drake has set forth in
elegant language the illustrious career of Tecumseh,
but the student who desired a comprehensive and
complete account of the life of Little Turtle the great
chief of the Miamis, has heretofore been doomed to
disappointment.
It was this fact that stirred the author of this
book to collect, compile and publish in a readable
form all of the authentic information about this
great chieftain that he could reasonably secure. As
a boy, some fifty years ago, the writer lived near
the site of Little Turtle’s birthplace where he became
7
8
intimately acquainted with some of the early trap-
pers and hunters who had lived in this vicinity while
the Misamis were still there. From these backwoods-
men he learned many interesting tales of the early
days which he treasured up in his retentive mem-
ory and now utilizes in the preparation of this his-
torical sketch. Thus has been rescued from oblivion
many interesting and important facts which are
embodied in this work.
The cordial reception given to an article entitled
“The Birthplace of Little Turtle’, prepared by my-
self for the Ohio Archaeological and Historical So-
ciety, and published in Vol. XXIII of the works of
that society, and the earnest entreaty of several
worthy and influential friends have also been large-
ly responsible for my decision to compile and pub-
lish this volume.
On account of his previous valuable experience
in compiling, editing and publishing various books
and sketches of early Ohio valley history I have
associated with myself in the editorial work of this
book Mr. Frazer E. Wilson, who is largely responsi-
ble for the form, style and arrangement of the
material collected by myself. It has been his aim
to present the historical data in a readable, pleasing
and forceful style and the reader may judge to what
extent he has succeeded in this matter.
It has taken considerable travel and original re-
search to secure the historical data embodied in this
volume besides the careful perusal of many works
on Indian and pioneer history. The author here-
with gratefully acknowledges his special indebted-
ness to the following authorities for valuable infor-
mation pertaining to his subject:.
Brice’s History of Fort Wayne;
Howe’s History of Ohio;
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Re-
ports ;
Abbott’s History of Ohio;
Atwater’s History of Ohio;
Allen’s History of Civilization ;
Dillon’s History of Indiana;
Cockrum’s History of Indiana;
J. P. Dunn’s True Indian Stories;
Lossing’s Field Book of the War of 1812;
Hand Book of North American Indians;
F. E. Wilson’s Peace of Mad Anthony;
F. E. Wilson’s History of Darke County, Ohio;
Mansfield’s Personal Memoirs;
Parkman’s Pontiac;
Drake’s Aboriginal Races;
Drake’s Tecumseh;
Knapp’s History of the Maumee Valley;
McAfee’s Late War in the Northwest;
Fergus’ Historical Series;
Collin’s Early History of Kentucky;
Williams’ Early Mackinaw;
Harvey’s History of the Shawnee Indians;
McClung’s Western Adventure;
Drake’s Life in the Wigwam;
Slocum’s Ohio Country ;
American Pioneer ;
Beers’ History of Darke County, Ohio;
Howe’s The Great West;
Catlin’s North American Indians;
Thatcher’s Famous Indians;
Blankard’s Conquest of the Northwest;
Woman on the Frontier;
Kinzie’s Wa-bun;
Currie’s Fort Dearborn;
Perkin’s Annals of the West;
Woods’ Lives of Famous Indians;
B. J. Griswold’s Sketch of Fort Wayne;
Frank Dildine’s Sketches of the Miamis;
Prof. W. S. Blatchley for topographical and geo-
logical information.
Very valuable assistance has also been rendered
by the Cincinnati University Library; the Burton
Public Library of Detroit; the Public Library of
Fort Wayne, Ind:; The Chicago Historical Society ;
The Greenville (O.) Historical Society; The Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society.
A special debt of gratitude is due the following
10
friends, who rendered valuable assistance in this
work:
B. J. Griswold and J. M. Stouder, of Fort Wayne,
Ind. ;
Dr. Koontz, of Roanoke, Ind.;
C. K. Lucas, of Huntington, Ind.;
Frank Dildine, of Tiffin, Ohio;
Geo. A. Katzenberger and Harvey F. Dershem,
attorneys, of Greenville, Ohio.
The Chicago Historical Society has rendered a
specially appreciated favor by loaning for repro-
duction a reprint of a famous painting said to have
been produced by an officer of Wayne’s legion.
This picture apparently represents Little Turtle’s
farewell address to General Wayne at foot of Stoney
Alley, Greenville, Ohio, August 12, 1795.
Mrs. H. H. Hayes, of Chicago; Mrs. Henry Hulst,
of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Eva ©. Corthell, of
Jacksonville, Fla., have also contributed many valu-
able details to the family history of the subject of
this sketch.
In compiling this volume it has been our aim to
present to the reader nothing but the most trust-
worthy information that we have been able to secure
from any source and to make this sketch reliable,
readable and entertaining.
Cicero said: “Not to know what happened be-
fore we were born is to remain always a child. For
what were the life of man did he not combine pres-
ent events with the recollection of past ages?”
Future generations will hold us responsible if we
fail to honestly and faithfully preserve the record
of pioneer times. Our children should be taught
and inspired with the spirit of genuine patriotism
through a correct knowledge of the suffering and
hardships of our fathers and mothers in the early
settlement of our country.
In this sketch the writer has tried to lay aside
all personal dislikes that he may have had against
the Redman—even though his great grandmother
and some of her children, who were killed and
ved
scalped by the Creek Indians in Georgia during the
Revolution.
“No more for them the busy mother
Plied her evening care
Or children climbed her knee
The evening kiss to share.”
We feel safe in the assurance that no critic can
justly accuse the author of unfair discrimination
against any person or race.
It is the duty of the historian to deal with facts
as they are found and to render justice to whom
justice is due. With this as our aim we send forth
this book in which are embodied the fruits of re-
search and the results of the perusal of many of
the most reliable writers on the subject herein
treated.
No doubt some errors have crept in our narrative
but let us remember that it is human to err and
that perfection is found in divinity alone.
With these thoughts in mind we respectfully
dedicate the following pages to the young and ris-
ing generations and every: true American who de-
sires more perfect knowledge of that great Indian
Chieftain of the old Northwest whose deeds are so
closely interwoven in American pioneer history.
THE AUTHOR.
Greenville, Ohio, March 16, 1917.
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PUREE VU REL E
( ME-SH E-KIN--NO-QUAH )
The Great Chief of the Miami Nation.
i
THE MIAMIS.
According to the verdict of modern scholars the
human race is divided into three well defined fami-
lies, viz., the White or Aryan; the Black or Negroid;
and the Yellow or Turanian. Until recent years it
was customary to specify five families, but extended
ethnological and archaeological research have proven
conclusively that the Malay and the Red Man are
closely related to the Mongolians and together com-
prise the Turanian or Mongoloid family. The
coarse black hair, the high cheek bones, the swarthy
complexion, the cunning handicraft, together with
the peculiar style of dress and customs of the North
American Indians indicate a close relationship to
the Nomadic Mongoloid tribes of Northern Asia and
lend color to the conviction that America was peo-
pled across Behring Strait at a remote date. When
reminded of the striking resemblance between the
Tartars and Indians, and the strong probability
that America had been peopled from Asia the cun-
ning Little Turtle, great Chief of the Miami In-
dians, remarked, why not say that the Tartars are
descended from us, and America the original home
of both? The answer to this question is that the
great mass of the Mongoloid peoples have lived in
Asia from time immemorial, while the comparative-
ly small number of North American Indians have
no authentic records to justify the suggestion of the
crafty Chief. In the absence of authentic records
we can only speculate in reference to the length of
the Red Man’s residence in America.
13
14
The words of the poet beautifully portray the
idealistic aspect of his life at the advent of his con-
queror the ‘‘Pale Face.”
“The echo of the Red Man’s voice
Resounded through the vale
It lingered on the evening air
It floated on the evening gale.
“Tt was borne along the mountain side
It drifted through the glen
It died away among the hills
Far from the haunts of men.
“His face was flushed with hues of health
His arms and feet were bare
He had a lithe and active form
A scalp of raven hair.
“Beyond the hills he passed from sight
A sunken fallen star
Until his voice is faintly heard
Still calling from afar.”
—Anonymous.
The Miami Indians belonged to the great Algon-
quin family which occupied the upper Mississippi
valley and a large portion of the basin of the St.
Lawrence at the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury. Tradition says that they once lived in the
region of the Hudson Bay, and in their migration
southward toward the Great Lakes became divided
into two wings, the western of which probably came
around the west end of Lake Superior and into the
Wisconsin region. The eastern wing probably
came into contact with the Iroquois in the region of
the lower lakes and were driven westward where
they joined their brethren.
The earliest recorded notice of the Miami nation
is from information furnished in 1658, by Gabriel
Druilletts, who called them the Oum-a-mik, then liv-
ing sixty leagues from St. Michael, at or about the
15
mouth of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Perrot Memoire
says, that they withdrew into the Mississippi valley
sixty leagues from the Bay, and were established
there from 1657 to 1676, although Bacqueville de la
Potherie asserts that with Mascoutens, the Kicka-
poos and part of the Illini they came to settle at that
place about 1667.
Probably the first time the French came into
actual contact with the Miamis was when Perrot
visited them about 1668. His second visit was in
1670, when they were living at the head waters of
Fox river, Wisconsin. In 1671, a part at least of
the tribe were living with the Mascoutens in a pali-
saded village in this locality. Soon after this the
Miamis parted from the Mascoutens and formed
new settlements at the south end of Lake Michigan,
and on Kalamazoo river, Michigan. The settle-
ments at the south end of the lake were at Chicago
and on the St. Joseph river emptying into that lake
where missions were established late in the seven-
teenth century, although the former is mentioned as
a Wea village at the time of Marquette’s visit and
Weas were found there in 1701, by Decon St.
Marche. It is likely that these Weas were the
Miamis mentioned by Allovez and others as being
united with the Mascoutens in Wisconsin.
The chief village of the Miamis on St. Joseph
river was, according to Zenobious, about fifteen
leagues inland, in latitude forty-one degrees. 'The
extent of territory occupied by this tribe a few
years later compels the conclusion that the Miamis
in Wisconsin, when the whites first heard of them,
formed but a part of the tribe, and that the other
bodies were already in northeast Illinois and north-
ern Indiana, as the Miamis and their allies were
found later on the Wabash, in Indiana, and in north-
west Ohio in which territory they gave their name
to three rivers and to one county, each in Ohio and
Indiana. These facts seem to indicate that they
moved to the southeast from the localities where
- first known within historic times. The tribe was
16
usually distinguished by early English writers as
“Twightwees’’, which signifies the cry of a crane.
According to Brice in his’ “History of Fort
Wayne,” one Major Thomas Forsyth, who lived
among the Sack and Fox Indians for more than
twenty years, wrote in 1826, as follows: ‘More
than a century ago, all the country, commencing
above Rock river and running down the Mississippi
to the mouth of the Ohio, up that river to the mouth
of the Wabash, thence up that river to Fort Wayne,
thence down the Miami of the Lake some distance,
thence west to the St. Joseph and Chicago; also.
the country lying south of the Des Moines down
perhaps to the Mississippi, was inhabited by a
numerous nation of Indians who called themselves
Linneway, and were called by others, Minneway,
signifying “Men.” This great nation was divided
into several bands, and inhabited different parts of
this extensive region, as follows: The Michiga-
mies, the country south of Des Moines; the Caho-
kias, that east of the present village of Cahokia in
Illinois; the Kaskaskias, that east of the town of
that name; the Tamarois had their village nearly
central between Cahokia and Kaskasia; the Pianke-
shaws, near Vincennes; the Weas, up the Wabash;
the Miamis on the headwaters of the Miami of the
Lakes, on the St. Joseph river and at Chicago.
The Piankeshaws, Weas and Miamis must at this
time have hunted south toward and on the Ohio.
The Peorias, another band of the same nation, lived
and hunted on the Illinois river; the Mascos or
Mascoutens, called by the French “Gensdes Prai-
ries’, lived and hunted on the great prairies between
the Illinois rivers. All these different bands of the
Minneway nation spoke the language of the present
Miamis, and the whole considered themselves as one
and the same people; yet from their local situation
and having no standard to go by, their language
became broken up into different dialects. These
Indians, the Minneways, were attacked by a general
Confederacy of other nations, such as the Sacks
and Foxes, resident at Green Bay and on the Ouis-
17
consin; the Sioux, whose frontiers extended south
to the river Des Moines; the Chippeways, the Otta-
ways, and Pottawattomies from the lakes and also
the Cherokees and Choctaws from the south. The
war continued for a great many years and until the
great nation the Minneways were destroyed, except
a few Miamis and Weas on the Wabash, and a few
who were scattered among strangers. Of the Kas-
kaskias, owing to their wars and their fondness for
spirituous liquors, there now (1826) remain but
thirty or forty souls; of the Peorias near St. Gene-
vieve, ten or fifteen; of the Piankeshaws, forty or
fifty. The Miamis are the most numerous; a few
years ago they consisted of about four hundred
souls. There do not exist at the present day more
than five hundred souls of the once great and pow-
erful Minneway or Illini nation’’.
The Miamis also suffered greatly from the fre-
quent incursions of the terrible Iroquois. Charles
B. LaSelle, an Indian writer, says that when the
Miamis were first invited by the French authorities
to Chicago in 1670, for a conference, they were a
powerful nation. Their chieftain could lead into
the field an army of five thousand warriors. Of all
their villages Kekionga was the most important, it
being the largest and most central of their posses-
sions. Such was the Miami Confederacy at that
time, and such it was in 1679 or 1680, when LaSalle
the French explorer visited their famous village on
the Maumee.
The Iroquois league was the most remarkable and
unique Confederacy mentioned in Indian history.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century it em-
braced the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas,
and Senecas, and became known as the Five Na-
tions. The Tuscaroras, a related tribe living to the
southward, joined them in 1775, and the Confeder-
acy became known henceforward as the “Six Na-
tions.” At the coming of the early white settlers
they were found in possession of the greater part of
the state of New York. The Dutch and British
traders cultivated friendly relations with them and
1s
influenced them against the French whose designs
they thwarted in the East. Their perfect union,
unbroken almost to the last, and their favoyed loca-
tion gave them supremacy among the Indian tribes.
They have been called the Romans of the New
World, and were certainly like the Romans in that
they were remorseless, bloodthirsty conquerors ever
seeking the spoils of war. For years they held all
the tribes from the plains of the Mississippi to the
shores of the Atlantic, and from the Tennessee river
to the St. Lawrence under the spell of their powers.
The Miami Confederacy, which was formed to resist
their encroachments, was their strongest foe, and
was frequently brought into contact with the Iro-
quois in the wars for spoils waged by the latter. In
their homes farther east the settlements of the white
man were gradually limiting the hunting grounds
of the Six Nations for the purpose of securing furs
for sale or exchange to the French traders, who at
an early date had established trading houses in
Canada and other points in the east, the Iroquois
invading the west, the lands of the Miami Confed-
eracy being included. These invasions the latter
tribes of Indians repelled and as a consequence the
wars with the Iroquois became frequent, and thou-
sands of Indian warriors in both contending Confed-
eracies were slain during the years of conflict.
The Iroquois, in a general way, were the conquer-
ors, but about 1684, they met with a most disastrous
defeat. The Miamis had joined their kindred the
Ijlinois Indians in resisting an invasion of the Iro-
quois and after a war that lasted three years, so
the historian, Chas. B. LaSelle says, the invincible
Iroquois of New York, these Romans of America,
were terribly worsted.
The deadly havoc among the Indians as a result
of these tribal and confederacy wars was great.
About that period, the historian continues, so thin
and scattering was the Indian population that one
might sometimes journey for days through the for-
ests and not meet a human form. Broad tracts
were left in solitude. All of Kentucky was a vacant
GS)
space, a mere skirmish ground for hostile war par-
ties of the north and south. A great part of upper
Canada, Michigan and of Illinois besides other por-
tions of the west seemed tenanted by wild beasts
alone.
According to the best traditional authorities the
dominion of the Miami Confederacy extended for a
long period of time over that part of the state of
Ohio which lies west of the Scioto river, the whole
of Indiana, the southern part of Michigan and the
principal portion of that part of the state of Illinois
which les southeast of the Fox and Illinois rivers.
The Miamis have preserved but little tradition of
their migration as a tribe from one country to
another; and the great extent of territory which
was claimed by them may be regarded as some evi-
dence of the high degree of national importance
which they formerly maintained among the Indian
tribes of North America.
In the early part of the eighteenth century, and
perhaps for a long period before that time, the
Miamis dwelt in small villages at various suitable
places within the boundaries of their large territory.
Some of these villages were found on the banks of
the Scioto; a few were situated in the vicinity of
the head waters of the great Miami river; some
stood on the banks of the Maumee; others on the St.
Joseph of Lake Michigan and many were found on
the borders of the Wabash and on some of the prin-
cipal tributaries of that river. The villages which
stood on the banks of the St. Joseph of Lake Michi-
gan, those which lay about the head waters of the
Maumee, and those which stood on the banks of the
river Wabash were often visited by christian mis-
sionaries and by fur traders before the middle of
the eighteenth century. These visits were not,
however, of long duration, and the different periods
at which the French founded settlements at or near
the sites of these Indian villages can not now be
stated with any degree of certainty. Neither the
occasional presence of a missionary, the sojournings
of adventurous explorers of the country, nor the
20)
periodical visits of the fur traders can be fairly
regarded as the founding of civilized settlements.
In the year 1672, the Indians, who lived in the
vicinity of the southern shores of Lake Michigan,
were visited by the missionaries Allouez and Dab-
lon, who opened the way for many subsequent but
almost fruitless attempts to establish missions with-
in the territories of the Miamis.
Among the missionaries who visited this terri-
tory between the years 1672 and 1712, were Ri-
bourde, Mambre, Hennepin, Marquette, Pinet, Bin-
neteen, Rasles, Perrot, Bergen, Mermet, Marest,
Gravier, Deville and Chardon. The history of the
missionary labors of these men is a record of perse-
verence, suffering and disappointments. In heathen
lands the efforts of christian missionaries have of-
ten been resisted and sometimes wholly defeated by
obstacles which were based upon the adverse relig-
ious tenets and the political strategems of rival
christian nations. For a period of one hundred and
fifty years Protestant England and Catholic France
were rivals in the great works of acquiring terri-
tory, planting colonies and establishing trade among
the Indian tribes of North America. Of the Chris-
tian missionaries of these two nations very few,
if any, were wholly free from the influence of the
hostile rivalry that was brought into action and
maintained by their respective governments.
Among a number of reasons assigned for the
planting of British colonies in New England was
one which assumed that it would be a service to the
church of great consequence to carry the true Gos-
pel into those parts of the world and raise a bul-
wark against the kingdom of Anti-Christ which the
Jesuits were credited with laboring to rear up in
all parts of the world.
The Rev. Cotton Mather in his “Ecclesiastical
History of New England,” says that in the year
1696, an Indian Chief informed a Christian minister
of Boston that the French, while instructing the
Indians in the Christian religion, claimed that the
Savior was of the French nation; that those who
21
murdered Him were of the English nation; and
that, whereas He rose from the dead and went up
to the heavens, all who would recommend them-
selves unto His favor must avenge His quarrel upon
the English as far as possible. But the Indians, it
seems, had little confidence in what the missionaries
told them, as the so-called Christian traders who
dealt commonly with them with the design of gain
thought of nothing but cheating and lying to become
rich in a short time. They used all manner of stra-
tegems to get the furs of the savages cheap; they
made use of hes and deceptions to gain double if
they could. On a certain occasion a trader sold
needles for one dollar apiece, telling the prospective
Indian customer that the only man who could make
needies had ‘died and that he had possession of all
his remaining stock. Such practices, without doubt,
caused an aversion against a religion which was
falsely professed by men of so base a type.
The Miamis took a prominent part in all Indian
wars in the Ohio valley until the close of the War
of 1812. Soon afterward they began to sell their
lands and by 1846, had sold about all of their hold-
ings in Indiana and had agreed to remove to Kan-
sas, whence they went later to Indian Territory,
where a small remnant still resides. Quite a num-
ber refused to go to their new homes and the gov-
ernment was compelled to remove them by force.
In the meantime intemperance and smallpox had
greatly reduced their number. A considerable part
of the tribe, commonly known as the Meshingomeshia
band, continued to reside on a reservation in
Wabash county, Indiana, until 1872, when the land
was divided among the survivors, then numbering
about three hundred. In all treaty negotiations
they were considered as the original owners of the
Wabash country, and all of western Ohio. While
the other tribes in that region were regarded as
tenants or intruders on their lands.
In 1718, the Miami men were described as being
of medium height; well built; heads rather round
than oblong; countenances agreeable rather than
22
sedate or morose; swift on foot and excessively fond
of racing. They used scarcely any covering and
were tattooed all over the body; while women were
generally well clad in deerskins. The latter were
hard working and raised a species of maize unlike
that of the Indians of Detroit, which is described
as being white, of the same size of the other, but
having a much finer skin and making a much finer
meal.
According to the early French explorers the
Miamis were distinguished for polite manners, mild,
affable and sedate character; and for their respect
for, and perfect obedience to their Chiefs, who had
greater authority than those of other Algonquin and
Northwest tribes. They usually spoke slowly, and
were land travelers rather than canoe-men. In his
search for the great river in 1673, Marquette en-
countered the Miamis in the Fox river region of
Wisconsin, and noted that they were friendly, lib-
eral, docile and fond of instruction. They were
eager to listen to the missionary, Father Allouez,
who lived among them shortly before this time, that
they allowed him scant repose, even in the night.
Two of the Miamis accompanied Marquette and
Joliet as guides on their way to the portage of the
Wisconsin river.
LaSalle tells us that the Miami Indians were the
most civilized of all the Indian nations, neat in
dress, splendid of bearing, haughty of manners, and
held all other Indian tribes as inferiors. Of all
the Indians of America the Miamis approached
nearest to the ideal of the true aborigine. Accord-
ing to early explorers they worshipped the sun and
thunder, but did not honor a host of minor deities
like the Hurons and Ottawas.
Three forms of burial appear to have been prac-
ticed by the division of the tribe living about Fort
Wayne: First, the ordinary ground burial in a
Shallow grave prepared to receive the body in a
recumbent position; second, surface burial in a hol-
low log in which method either a tree was split and
the halves hollowed out to receive the body, being
=>
23
afterward closed; third, surface burial, wherein the
body was covered with a small pen of logs laid as
in a log cabin, and crosses meeting at the top in a
single log. Nothing could be more affecting than
the sight of a young mother hanging the coffin that
contained the remains of her beloved child to the
pendant branches of the flowering maple and sing-
ing her lament over her loved one as the body
waved in the breeze.
“It seemed her voice in bitterest woe
To sobs and tears had given birth,
And all sad things did list to her
And all sad things did weep to her
As she moaned her song and her song’s refrain
Over and over and over again.”
According to Morgan the Miamis had ten gentes:
first, Mowhawa (Wolf); second, Mongwa (Loon) ;
third, Kendawa (Eagle); fourth, Ahpakosa (Buz-
zard); fifth, Kanozawa (Panther); sixth, Pilawa
(Turkey) ; seventh, Ahseponna (Raccoon) ; eighth,
Monnato (Snow); ninth, Kulswa (Sun); tenth,
(Water).
Chanviznerie in 1737, said that the Miamis had
two principal totems: the Elk and the Crane, while
some had the Bear. The French writers call At-
chatcha-kan-gonen (Crane) the leading division. At
a great conference on the Maumee in Ohio in 1798,
the Miamis signed with Turtle totem. None of
these totems occur in Morgan’s list.
In 1905, the total number of Miamis in Indian
Territory was one hundred and twenty-four (124) ;
in Indiana there were two hundred and forty-three
(243) in 1910. The latter, however, are greatly
mixed with white blood. Including individuals
scattered among other tribes the whole number is
probably four hundred (400) today.
The Miamis joined in, or made treaties with, the
United States, as follows: First, at Greenville,
Ohio, with General Anthony Wayne, August 3, 1795,
defining the boundary between the United States
24
and tribes west of the Ohio river and ceding certain
tracts of land; second, Fort Wayne, Indiana, June
7, 1803, with various tribes, defining boundaries
and ceding certain lands; third, Gronseland, Indi-
ana, August 21, 1805, ceding certain tracts of lands
in Indiana and defining boundaries; fourth, Fort
Wayne, Indiana, September 30, 1809, in which the
Miami, Eel River tribes and Delawares ceded cer-
tain lands in Indiana and the relations between the
Delawares and Miamis regarding certain territory
were defined; fifth, Treaty of Peace at Greenville,
Ohio, July 22, 1814, between the United States, the
Wvandottes, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas and the
Miamis, including the Eel River and Wea tribes;
sixth, Peace Treaty at Spring Wells, Michigan, Sep-
tember 8, 1815, by the Miami and other tribes;
seventh, St. Mary’s, Ohio, October 6, 1818, by which
the Miami ceded certain lands in Indiana; eighth,
Treaty of the Wabash, Indiana, October 23, 1826.
by which the Miamis ceded all of their Jand north
and west of Wabash and Miami rivers; ninth, Wy-
andotte village, Indiana, February 11, 1829, by
which the Kel River Miamis ceded all of their claim
to the reservation on Sugar Tree creek, Indiana;
tenth, forks of the Wabash, Indiana, October 23,
1834, by which the Miamis ceded several tracts in
Indiana; eleventh, Forks of the Wabash, Indiana,
November 6, 1838, by which the Miamis ceded most
of their remaining lands in Indiana, and the United
States agreed to furnish them a reservation west
of the Mississippi; twelfth, Forks of the Wabash,
Indiana, November 28, 1840, by which the Miamis
ceded their remaining lands in Indiana and agreed
to remove to the country assigned them west of the
Mississipp1; thirteenth, Washington, June 5, 1854,
by which they ceded a tract assigned by amended
treaty of November 28, 1840, excepting seventy
thousand acres retained as a reserve; fourteenth,
Washington, February 23, 1867, with the Senecas
and others, in which it is stipulated that the Miamis
may become federated with the Peorias and others
if they so desire.
25
Among the better known settlements, or villages
of the Miamis were Chicago (Chicago, Ill.) ; Chip-
pekawkay (Vincennes, Ind.) ; Choppatees (on St.
Joseph river a few miles above Fort Wayne, Ind.) ;
Kekionga (Fort Wayne, Ind.); Kenapacomaqua,
Little Turtle’s Town (Blue River Lake) ; Kokomo
(Kokomo, Ind.) ; Meshingomesia (on the Mississin-
ewa, Liberty township, Wabash county, Ind.) ;
Missimquimescan (near Washington, Daviess coun-
ty, Ind.) ; Mississinewa (near Peru, Ind.) ; Osage,
Ouiatenon (Wabash river, near LaFayette, Ind.) ;
Pamedketeha; Piankeshaw (Wabash at junction of
Vermillion); Pickawillanee (Miami river above
Piqua, O.); Raccoon’s Village (at the mouth of
Aboit creek, near Roanoke, Ind.); Seek’s Village
(on Eel river, Whitley county, Ind.); St. Francis
Xavier Mission, and others (St. Joseph river of
Lake Michigan) ; Thorntown (on Eel river); Tip-
pecanoe (Wabash river, near mouth of Tippecanoe
river, Tippecanoe county, Ind.).
General W. H. Harrison said that, saving the ten
years preceding the Treaty of Greene Ville in
1795, the Miamis alone could have brought more
than three thousand warriors into the field; that
they comprised a body of the finest light troops in
the world, and had they been under an efficient sys-
tem of discipline or possessed enterprise equal to
their valor, the settlement of the country would
have been attended with much more difficulty than
was encountered in accomplishing it and their final
subjugations would have been delayed for years.
Although constant wars with our frontiers had de-
prived them of their warriors, the ravages of small-
pox was the principal cause of the great decrease in
their numbers.
Subsequent to the Treaty of GreeneVille their
demoralization was rapid in its progress and terri-
ble in its consequences, so much so that when the
Baptist missionary, the Rev. Isaac McCoy, was
among them during the years from 1817 to 1822, he
declared the Miamis were no longer a warlike peo-
ple. At the villages on Sugar Creek, Eel River
26
and the Mississinewa, and particularly at Fort
Wayne, it was a continuous round of drunken de-
bauchery whenever whiskey could be obtained, of
which men, women and children partook alike, and
life was often sacrificed in personal brawls or by
exposure of the debauches to the inclemency of the
weather.
By treaties entered into at various times from
1795, to 1845, the Miamis ceded their Jands in Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois and removed west of the Miss-
issippi, going in villages or by detachments from
time to time. In 1838, at a single session, they sold
to the United States government one hundred and
seventy-seven thousand (177,000) acres of land in
Indiana, which was only a fragment of their for-
mer possessions, although still retaining large
tracts. Thus they alienated their heritage piece by
piece to make room for the incoming population
while they gradually disappeared from the valleys
of the Wabash and Maumee. A few of them who
clung to their reservations, adapted themselves to
the ways of the Americans and their descendant,
and are now to be met with in or about the cities
that have sprung up in the localities named. The
money received from the sale of their lands proved
a calamity as the proceeds were wasted for whiskey.
The last of the Miamis to go west were the Miss-
issinewa band. This remnant, comprising in all
about three hundred and fifty (350) persons in
charge of Christian Dazney, left their old homes,
where many of them had farm houses and had made
considerable progress in agriculture. Going to Cin-
cinnati in the fall of 1846, they were placed on a
steamboat, taken down the Ohio, up the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers and landed late-in the season
at Westport, near Kansas City. Ragged men, and
naked women and children, forming a motley group,
were huddled upon the shore of a strange land with-
out food or friends to relieve their wants, and ex-
posed to the bitter December winds that blew from
the chilly plains of Kansas. From Westport the
Missinewas were conducted to a place near the pres-
27
ent village Lewisburg, Kansas, in the county since
named Miami. They suffered greatly and nearly
one-third of their number died the first year.
Mrs. Mary Batiste Peoria, then wife of Christian
Dazney, the agent having these unfortunate people
in charge, who accompanied her husband in this
work, stated that strong men would actually cry
when they thought about their old homes in Indiana,
to which many of them would make journeys bare-
footed, begging their way and submitting to the
imprecation hurled upon them from the door of the
white man as they asked for a crust of bread. She
saw fathers and mothers give their children away |
to others of the tribe for adoption and then singing
their funeral songs and joining in the solemn dance
of death, go calmly away from the assemblage never
again to be seen alive.
Some two years were required to accomplish the
removal of the Miamis from their Indiana homes to
the new reservation in Kansas. The beginning of
the disappearance of the tribe took place in the
summer of 1844, under the stipulations of a treaty.
August Ist had been designated as the time for all
‘members of the tribe to be ready to be taken west
in a body under government escort, but it was found
when that day arrived that very few had made any
preparations to leave.
The Miami reservation extended from the south-
western corner of Allen county and included a large
portion of Howard, Wells, Huntington, Wabash,
Grant and Miami counties. The reluctance of the
Indians to comply with the terms of the treaty
forced the government to send troops under Captain
Jouett, a thoroughgoing, prompt, energetic old sol-
dier, just the kind of a man to make short work of
a job of this kind, and Mr. St. Clair, government
sub-agent. The troops did not arrive, however, un-
til September, 1846, and many of the Indians had
to be brought forcibly to the place of rendezvous
previous to taking their departure.
One writer says that many had to be hunted down
like wild animals; some were actually found in the
28
tops of trees; others secreted themselves in swamps
and many fled from the locality, coming back only
after the emigration had taken place, when they
were forwarded as prisoners to their new home in
the eastern part of Kansas. Numbers of them found
their way back to the reservation, but were ulti-
mately returned. A few of this class persisted in
returning and never did go back, but spent vagrant
lives in the vicinity of the reserve. Much ill feel-
ing was aroused by the action of the government in
showing marked favoritism toward certain leaders
of the tribe including the families of Chief Richard-
ville, LaFontaine, Godfrey and Meshingomesia and
the brothers of the latter living on the Mississinewa.
These were allowed to retain their lands and some
were richly rewarded in other ways. It was well
understood that this agreement was accomplished
through fraud and a collusion on the part of some
unprincipled men, chiefs and others of the tribe,
who were bought up by grants of lands and money
as well, and even is said that Richardville, their
tribal chief for half a century, who had taken such
an active and questionable part in forcing this
treaty upon his people, had to flee to Canada and’
remain there until the excitement and wrath of his
people had died out. Chief Richardville, for his
services in this matter, received several sections of
the most valuable lands in northern Indiana; not-
ably a large tract lying along the St. Marys river
four miles southwest of Fort Wayne, upon which
the government built him a large and comfortable
brick house where he resided until his death.
Many of the Miamis were brought through Fort
Wayne on their way to Kansas. In the summer of
1846, five hundred Indians who had been gathered
at Peru by the soldiers and placed forcibly on canal
boats were brought through the city of Fort Wayne.
While the crowd remained here a most disgusting
scene was enacted. Conscienceless men provided
with a large quantity of whiskey, sold the stuff to
the savages, and the last view of them as the boats
departed for Cincinnati was one to shame the citi-
29
zens of a supposed enlightened community. The
boats conveyed the Indians into the Miami and Erie
canal, and then proceeded to Cincinnati, where
steamers transported them to their new reservation.
The almost complete disappearance of the once
powerful Miami Nation is one of the pitiable inci-
dents of American history.
In 1814, General William Henry Harrison, writ-
ing to the Secretary of State, said: “The Miamis
are merely a poor, drunken set diminishing every
year, becoming too lazy to hunt, they feel the advan-
tage of their annuity.”
During the period of the canal building the In-
dians experienced little difficulty in securing whiskey
in exchange for their government allowance of mon-
ey. Between 1813 and 1830, fully five hundred
deaths resulted among the Miamis from murders
and accidents resulting from strong drink.
It has been well said that some races of men seem
molded in wax, soft and melting, at once plastic
and feeble; some, like metals, combine the greatest
flexibility with the greatest strength; but the Indian
was hewn out of the rock of which you cannot
change the form without destroying. Races of in-
ferior energy have possessed a power of expansion
and assimilation to which he is a stranger, and it
is this fixed and rigid quality which has proved his
ruin. He will not learn the arts of civilization and
he and his forest must perish together. The stern
unchanging features of his mind excite our admira-
tion from their very immutability, and we look with
deep interest on the fate of this irreclaimable son
of the wilderness, the child who will not be weaned
from the breast of his rugged mother. And our
interest increases when we discern in the unhappy
wanderer, mingled among his vices, the germs of
heroic virtues. A hand bountiful to bestow as it is
rapacious to seize, and, even in extremest famine,
imparting its last morsel to a fellow sufferer; a
heart which is as strong in friendship as in hate
thinks it not too much to lay down life for its chos-
en comrade; a soul true to its own order of honor
30
and burning with an unquenchable thirst for great-
ness and renown.
“They waste us ah! like the April snow
In the warm noon we shrink away
And fast they follow as we go
Toward the setting day
*Till they shall fill the land and we
Are driven into the western sea.”
—Bryant.
No doubt the stoicism and lack of adaptability
manifested by the Indian has been largely respon-
~ gible for his slowness in adopting the progressive
ways of the whites. And account for the fact that
his descendants today number but about three hun-
dred thousand (300,000) when they might have
been counted by the million.
Parkman represents the Jesuit missionaries in
Canada two centuries ago as testifying that the
Indian has a more acute instinct than the peasants
in France. At his best, however, the Red Man was
but the child of the forest, and in the presence of
the Pale Faces, was not destined to survive. His
was a doomed and passing race, meeting a fate it
could not endure. One reason assigned for this, is
that which was given by a very thoughtful Indian
in a speech on a certain occasion long ago in the
presence of a company of government agents on the
beach at Mackinac Island. Said he very refiective-
ly, “The White Man no sooner came than he thought
of preparing the way for his posterity. The Red
Man never thought of that.” In this profound ob-
servation is embodied one of the latest deductions in
social philosophy. Of course in thus speaking of
the Indians reference is had to manifestations of
their mental character as seen in the early days, and
not the Indian life and character at the present time.
Il.
KE-KI-ON-GA
“THE GLORIOUS GATE.”
At the advent of the French in the latter part of
the seventeenth century the Miami Confederacy
was probably the most powerful in the region be-
tween Lake Michigan and the Ohio river and kept
in awe the crafty Iroquois below Lake Erie and
Ontario on the east and the powerful Sioux of the
upper Mississippi on the west. It is said that their.
chieftain at this time had a bodyguard of forty war-
riors and could lead into battle an army of five
thousand men. This powerful Confederacy com-
prised the Piankeshaws, whose chief towns were
located near the present site of Vincennes; the
Weas, whose seat was at Ouiatenon, near the pres-
ent site of LaFayette, and the Miamis proper, whose
capital was located near the junction of the St.
Joseph and St. Marys where they unite to form
the Maumee on the present site of Fort Wayne,
Ind. This was easily recognized as a_ strategic
point, as it was at the head of navigation of the
Maumee, some ninety miles from Maumee Bay and
was readily reached by trails from the St. Joseph
river of Lake Michigan; from the Wabash and the
Great Miami and was on the natural water route
from Detroit to the above points. At the Treaty
of Greene Ville in 1795, Little Turtle spoke of this
village as “That glorious gate through which all the
good words of our chiefs had to pass from the north
to the south and from east to the west.”
Kekionga is said to be a corruption of Kiskakon,
the name of a tribal subdivision of the Ottawas,
who had a village here before the Miamis. At that
early date the Maumee was likewise known as the
Ottawa river on account of its control by the tribe
of that name. How long it had been a tribal seat
31
o2
ean only be conjectured, when we recall the state-
ment of Meshikinnoqua at Greene Ville concerning
certain lands along the Scioto and Miami which he
claimed had been enjoyed by his forefathers ‘‘from
time immemorial without molestation or dispute.”
At the advent of the White Man Kekionga was sur-
rounded by gardens, orchards and extensive corn-
fields, which were considered remarkable and indi-
cated long occupancy. Tradition says that LaSalle
visited this point with a company of some thirty
companions, consisting of French soldiers, lieuten-
ants and assistants and two Indian guides, in the
spring of 1679 or 1680. These men had been en-
gaged in exploring probably a decade before arriv-
ing at this point, having visited Indian settlements
in Canada along the St. Lawrence and Ottawa riv-
ers; in Michigan, on the shores of Lake Huron and
St. Clair and the Detroit river, besides points
along the southwestern shore of Lake Erie.
Big Horn is said to have been the Miami chief
at this time. It is probable that a trading post had
been established here as early as 1719. Captain
Vineennes, the founder of Vincennes, Ind., is cred-
ited with erecting a French fort about 1734, on the
southern bank of the Maumee, a little below where
the St. Mary and St. Joseph unite to form this
stream. This post was probably built of large logs
cut from the site and laid horizontally with log pick-
ets some twenty-five feet long firmly set at the most
exposed points. It was appropriately named Fort
Miami, as it guarded the capital town of the Miamis
located on the river of the same name.
The early years of French occupation seem to
have been a period of peace. In fact we hear but
little concerning this post until near the close of
the French and Indian War—perhaps in 1762—
when it seems to have been abandoned and replaced
by an English fort on the east side of the St. Jos-
eph. This latter fort was probably built by the
French and taken over by the British about 1760,
who placed Ensign Holmes in. charge of it. All
went well until the spring of 1763, when Pontiac,
Se
SIs)
the Ottawa, formed a conspiracy to surprise and
take the English outposts on the lower lakes and
frontiers, including Fort Miami. The Miamis had
been a party to the great conspiracy and openly de-
nounced the English. Hence, we are not surprised
to learn that the English commandant was marked
for destruction. Through constraint an Indian
maiden, for whom Holmes had found an attach-
ment, and in whom he placed confidence, was sent
into the post on May 27, with the request that he
come out to assist with medical aid a squaw who
was lying sick in a hut without the garrison. Fol-
lowing the girl a few paces outside the enclosure
he was treacherously shot down while approaching
the wigwam in which the fictitious sick squaw lay.
A sergeant, attracted by the shots, unguardedly
stepped outside the fort to investigate the cause and
was immediately seized and made a captive. Seeing
the desperate situation the handful of defenders
threw open the gates and surrendered. Fort Miami
again passes into obscurity until the fall of 1780,
when one Augustus de la Balme suddenly appeared
with fifty or a hundred freebooters on their way to
Detroit. From meager historical data it seems that
LaBalme was a Frenchman who came over with
LaFayette in 1779, to fight in the Revolution. How-
ever, we find him in the summer of 1780, in Kas-
kaskia and Vincennes quietly enlisting a volunteer
company of daring frontiersmen with the view of
surprising Kekionga, and, if successful in this ven-
ture, extending operations to Detroit, then in the
hands of the British. The success of Clark in tak-
ing Vincennes a few months previously, no doubt,
lent inspiration to the adventure and made recruit-
ing comparatively easy. Whether he was moved by
patriotic impulse or bent on plunder seems to be a
matter of conjecture. Following the valley of the
Wabash by a quick and cautious march he passed
Ouiatenon and appeared unexpectedly at Kekionga.
The panic stricken inhabitants, including some six
or eight French traders, fled without resistance.
leaving LaBalme plunder the village at will. In a
short time the freebooters had sacked the village
and burned the buildings of Beaubien, LaFontaine
and other traders together with some stores of food
and supplies as they could not apply to their needs.
After tarrying a day or so they proceeded westward
a few miles and encamped on Aboit creek, a branch
of the Wabash, awaiting reinforcements before ad-
vancing to Detroit. It is said that one of LaBalme’s
objects was to seize Beaubien who was the general
partisan of the Miamis. The French traders, how-
ever, were greatly incensed by this unwarranted and
dastardly raid and soon incited the Indians of the
ee
SESSA ELE CRAMER
"
THE ABOITE RIVER MASSACRE
From an old print. Little Turtle’s First Victory, 1780.
neighborhood to retaliate. After ascertaining the
number and equipment of LaBalme’s forces the
Miamis, under the leadership of the crafty Little
Turtle, then probably under thirty years of age,
surrounded the imperfectly guarded encampment
and fell upon it in the night time and massacred
the entire party with the exception of a man by the
name of Rhys, who was captured and delivered to
the British officers in Canada. The Indians, it
seems, having learned that LaBalme’s men were
Frenchmen, were not disposed at first to avenge the
1600271 he
attack, but the traders, Beaubien (who had married
the widow of Chief Joseph Drouet de Richardville,
the mother of the late Chief of the nation, Joseph B.
Richardville) and LaFontaine (father of the late
Miami Chief LaFontaine), incited them to the deed.
Here the sagacious mind of Little Turtle foreshad-
owed his future greatness, as the morning foretells
the day.
It seems that Little Turtle’s time was employed
during the decade immediately following 1780, as a
leader in various war expeditions against different
parts of the frontier, especially Ohio river points
and the outposts of Kentucky. In one of these ex-
peditions he captured a boy about eleven years of
age by the name of William Wells, whom he
adopted.
Kekionga again lapsed into comparative quietude
while the great drama of conquest and expansion
was being enacted by the American Colonies east of
the Alleghenies. The close of the Revolution, in
1783, gave an impetus to frontier activity as the eyes
of prospective emigrants turned north of the Ohio,
and attempts were soon made to realize the visions
and ambition of the Ohio company and other organ-
izations of prospectors formed before the war.
The first permanent settlement of the Northwest
Territory was made on the seventh of April, 1788,
at Marietta, by General Rufus Putman, heading a
company of forty-seven emigrants.
Cincinnati was settled on December 28, 1788.
The next year was famous in the history of western
emigration, as no less than twenty thousand per-
sons, men, women and children, passed the mouth
of the Muskingum river during the season on their
journey down the Ohio river. In a very short time
a territorial government was established at Mari-
etta, with General Arthur St. Clair as Governor.
The Treaty of Paris in 1783, following the Amer-
ican Revolutionary War, did not bring peace with
the Indian tribes of the Northwest. The British
meanwhile kept on good terms with the Indians,
intrigued with them and encouraged them in their
36
hostilities against the Americans, which continued
with savage fury. Murderous incursions by the
Miamis and Confederate tribes from the Maumee
and western countries were frequently attended
with savage cruelties. The government decided up-
on immediate aggressive movements. To delay was
only to encourage the Indians in their obstinancy,
GENERAL JOSIAH HARMAR.
and the British in their unscrupulous work of feed-
ing, clothing and equipping the Indians for their
depredations against the Americans.
In the Indian War in the west the Miamis were
the principal central power. Occuping with their
confederates the valleys of the Wabash and the
Miami of the Lakes they stretched like an impossi-
FS end
-)
ble line between Lake Erie and the lower Ohio, and
were a complete bar to the settlement of the west.
The outrages, they in connection with the Shaw-
nees and Delawares committed, and the threatening
aspect they assumed led eventually to the various
campaigns at separate periods of Generals Harmar,
St. Clair and Wayne.
The first army in this Indian War organized by
the general government was placed under command
of General Josiah Harmar, a soldier of the Revolu-
tion. Arrangements having been completed he left
Fort Washington September 30, 1790, with one
thousand one hundred and fifty-three men, compris-
ing three hundred and twenty regulars and one
thousand one hundred and thirty-three militia and
drafted men. The entire force comprised three bat-
talions of Kentucky militia under Majors Hall, Mc-
Mullen and Ray, with Lieutenant-Colonel Trotter in
command; one battalion of Pennsylvania militia un-
der Lieutenant-Colonel Traby and Major Paul; one
battalion of mounted riflemen commanded by Major
James Fontaine together with two battalions of reg-
ulars under Majors Wyllys and Doughty and a com-
pany of artillery with three brass pieces of ordnance
commanded by Captain William Ferguson.
After treaty upon treaty had been made and
broken and the frontiers had been suffering through
this whole period from the tomahawk and scalping
knife, the new American government dispatched
these regular troops, enlisted in New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, and the force of drafted militia from
Pennsylvania and Kentucky to the frontiers under
General Harmar, with Col. John Hardin, of Ken-
tucky, in charge of the militia. The army comprised
many boys and infirm men, who had been sent as
substitutes, and were unfit for the hard service be-
fore them. On account of hasty assemblage they
were also poorly equipped and drilled. The orders
to General Harmar were to march on to the Indian
towns adjacent the lakes, and to inflict on them
such signal chastisement as should protect the settle-
ments from future depradations.
38
The militia advanced up the Mill Creek valley on
September 26th, and the main army followed on the
30th, making seven miles, and encamping for the
night on a branch of Mill Creek, course northeast.
Eight miles more were made the second day on a
general course of northwest, the army encamping
on another branch of Mill Creek. On the third day
a march of fifteen miles was made, the course being
generally north and the encampment on the waters
of Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Little Miami
river. On the morning of October 3d, Colonel Har-
din, with the militia were overtaken and passed;
and, halting at Turtle creek one mile further on,
the whole army encamped for the night.
On the 4th of October the army reached and
crossed the Little Miami on a northeast course,
moving up it one mile to a branch called Sugar or
Caesar’s creek, near Waynesville, where they en-
camped having accomplished nine miles that day.
Next day a march of ten miles still on a northeast
course brough the army to Glade creek, near the
present site of Xenia, Ohio. On the 6th, it reached
Chillicothe, an old Indian village, now Oldtown, and
crossed the Little Miami again, keeping a northeast
course, making nine miles that day. Next day the
troops crossed Mad river, then called the Pickaway
fork of the Great Miami, between the present sites
of Dayton and Springfield, Ohio, and made nine
miles; their course for the first time becoming west
of north. On the 8th, pursing a northwest course
they crossed Honey creek, and made seven miles
more. On the next day, they followed the same
course marching ten miles, encamped within two
miles of the Great Miami; next day the army
crossed that stream above the present site of Piqua,
Ohio, keeping still a northwest course and made ten
miles more. On the 11th, by a course west of north,
it passed the ruins of a French trading station,
marked on Hutchin’s map as Twightwees (or Mi-
amis), and encamped there after making eleven
miles. Next day the army kept a course most of
northwest, near Loramie’s creek and across the
39
headwaters of the Auglaize. Here they found the
remains of a considerable village, some of the houses
being still standing; fourteen miles made this day.
Following the old Indian and French portage to the
St. Marys river (near St. Marys, Ohio), and on
towards the Miami villages. On the 13th they
marched ten miles, keeping west of northwest, and
encamped, being joined by a reinforcement from
Cincinnati with ammunition. Next day, the 14th,
Colonel Hardin was detached with one company of
regulars and six hundred militia in advance of the
main body, being charged with the destruction of
towns in the forks of the Maumee. On the arrival
of this advance party, they found the towns aban-
doned by the Indians and the principal ones burnt.
The main body marched on the 14th, ten miles,
and on the 15th eight more; both days on a north-
west course. Next day made nine miles, same
course, and on the 17th, crossed the Maumee river
to the Indian village; formed a junction again with
Hardin at the Miami village; this was the same
town burned and abandoned by the savages. On the
day of Harmayr’s junction with Hardin two Indians
were discovered by a scouting party as they were
crossing a prairie. The scouts pursued them and
shot one; the other making his escape. A young
man named Johnson, seeing that the Indian was not
dead, attempted to shoot him again, but his pistol
failing to fire, the Indian raised his rifle and shot
Johnson through the body, which proved fatal. This
night the Indian succeeded in driving through the
lines between fifty and one hundred horses and bore
them off to the mortification of the whites. This
same day, October 17th, was employed in search-
ing in the hazel thickets for hidden treasurers and
much corn was found buried in the earth.
On the evening of this day Captains McClure and
McClary fell upon a strategem peculiar to back-
woodsmen. They conveyed a horse a short distance
down the river undiscovered, fetterd him, un-
_ strapped the bell tongue, and concealed themselves,
with their rifle. The Indian attracted by the
40
sound of the bell, came cautiously up and began to
untie him, when McClure shot him. The report of
the gun alarmed the camp and brought many of
the troops to the place.
A young man taken prisoner at Loramie was
brought to see the Indian just killed and pronounced
him to be Captain Punk-great-man, Delaware Chief.
The army burned all the houses and destroyed
about twenty thousand bushels of corn, which they
discovered in various places where it had been hid-
den by the Indians, a large quantity having been
found buried in holes dug for that purpose. In this
destruction a variety of property belonging to
French traders was included.
The 18th was spent in a fruitless attempt to locate
the Indians. On the 19th Colonel Hardin led a de-
tachment of three hundred men, including a small
number of regulars. They followed along an Indian
trail to the northwest for about fifteen miles, or to
within one mile of the present village of Churubusco,
Indiana, and to within five miles of the Little Tur-
tle’s famous village.
Through the neglect of Colonel Hardin to give
command to move forward, Falkner’s company was
left in the rear, possibly a mile or more. The ab-
sence of Falkner at the time became apparent. Ma-
jor Fontaine, with a portion of the calvary, was at
once sent in pursuit of him with the supposition
that he was lost. At this time the report of a gun
in front of the detachment fell upon the attentive
ear of Captain Armstrong, in command of the regu-
lars. When Armstrong informed Colonel Hardin
that the fires of the Indians had been discerned, the
latter believed that the Indians would not fight, and
rode in front of the advancing columns. The de-
tachment was soon fired on from ambuscade, both
skillfully designed and vigorously executed by the
skill and genius of the commanding Miami Chief,
Little Turtle, at the head of not more than one
hundred and fifty warriors. The Indians on this
occasion gained a complete victory, having killed
nearly one hundred men. The enemy pursued until
Al
Major Fontaine, who had been sent to hunt up Falk-
ner and his company, returning with them com-
pelled them to retire, and the survivors of the de-
tachment arrived safe in camp. The real strength
of the Indians was in a well chosen position and
in the cowardice of the militia, who threw away
their arms without even firing a shot.
This destructive engagement was fought near the
spot where the Goshen State Road now crosses Eel
river, near or still beyond Hellers corner, about
twelve or fifteen miles northwest of Fort Wayne.
Captain Armstrong broke through the pursuing In-
dians and plunged into the depth of the morass,
where he remained to his chin all night in the mud
and water, his head concealed by a tussock of high
grass. Here he was compelled to listen to the noc-
turnal orgies of the Indians dancing and yelling
around the dead bodies of his brave soldiers. Event-
ually the Indians retired and Armstrong, chilled to
the last degree, extricated himself from the swamp,
but found himself obliged to kindle a fire in a ravine
into which he crawled, having his tender box, watch
and compass still on his person. By the aid of the
fire he recovered his feeling, and the use of his
limbs and at last reached the camp in safety. For
some years after the site of this sanguinary con-
flict was settled by the whites, bayonets were picked
up and bullets were cut out of the neighboring trees
in such quantities as to attest the desperate charae-
ter of this engagement.
Little Turtle still recruited his Indian army, and
slowly followed the trail to near Harmar’s encamp-
ment, which was still located at the old Miami vil-
lage site at the head of the Maumee.
On the evening of the 21st of October, at 10
o’clock, General Harmar, without calling a council,
left camp and started on his return to Fort Wash-
ington. Little Turtle, who was immediately ap-
praised of this fact, was in possession of the old
Miami village early on the morning of the 22d.
Colonel Hardin, surmising that the Indians had
returned to the burned village, solicited General
42
Harmar to let him return and inflict a more severe
chastisement upon them. The request was granted,
and Colonel Hardin, with Major Wyllys, was sent
back with a detachment of four hundred men; they
too soon became entangled in the snares of the wily
Little Turtle, who, on the point of land between the
St. Joseph and the Maumee, inflicted another serious
defeat to the American arms.
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HARMAR'S BATTLEFIELD
October 22, 1790.
Majors Hall and Fontaine, with a detachment of
militia, were to pass around the village at the head
of the Maumee, cross the St. Marys and the St.
Joseph, gain the rear of the Indian encampment
unobserved, and await an attack by the main body
of the troops in front.
Those consisting of Major McMullin’s battalion
and the regulars under Major Wyllys were to cross
the Maumee at the usual ford and thus surround the
ee eee
43
savages. The game was spoiled by the imprudence
of Major Hall, who fired prematurely upon a soli-
tary Indian and alarmed the encampment. The
startled Indians were instantly seen flying in differ-
ent directions. The militia under Major Hall, and
the cavalry under Fontaine, who had crossed the
river, started in pursuit in disobedience of orders,
leaving the regulars under Wyllys, who had also
crossed the Maumee, unsupported. The latter was
attacked by Little Turtle, and the main body of
the Indians and driven back with great slaughter.
Richardville, a half-blood about ten or twelve
years of age, was in the battle, and in later life often
asserted that he could have crossed the stream upon
the bodies dryshod. This man succeeded Little Tur-
tle as Chief, and died at Fort Wayne in 1840.
The above statement is from Lossing’s Field
Book of the War 1812, who visited Fort Wayne in
1860.
We also have another statement by this same
Richardville, taken from ‘‘Brice’s History of Fort
Wayne.” His recollection of the way the Indians
stole along the bank of the river near the point long
since known as Harmar’s ford was most thrilling.
Not a man among the Indians, said he, was to fire a
gun until the warriors under Harmar had gained
the stream and were about to cross. Then the red
men in the bushes, with rifles leveled and ready for
action just as the detachment of Harmar began to
near the center of the Maumee, opened a sudden and
deadly fire in the stream, until the river was literally
strewn from bank to bank with the slain, one upon
the other, both horses and men, and the water ran
red with blood. While this was going on at the ford,
Majors Hall and Fontaine were skirmishing with
parties of Indians a short distance up the St.
Joseph. .
Fontaine, with a number of his followers, fell
at the head of his mounted militia in making a
charge. He was shot dead, and as he fell from his
horse was immediately scalped. The remainder,
~ with those under Hall and Fontaine, fell back in
44
confusion towards the ford of the Maumee and
followed the remnant of the regulars in their re-
treat.
Major George Adams, who afterward lived and
died in Darke county, Ohio, was with the mounted
militia under Major Fontaine at the time of his
tragic death; and when he found that his troops did
not charge as a unit with him, he called out to
Adams, “Stick to me, my brave fellow.”
Adams was wounded five times and carried on
stretchers between two horses back to Fort Wash-
ington and a grave was dug for him three suc-
ceeding evenings, thinking it impossible for him
to live until morning.
We have the above statement from the excellent
paper by George Katzenberger on “Major Adams”
published in the “‘Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Society’s Reports,” Vol. 22, page 529. Also by John
Wharry, “History of Darke County,” published
1880.
The Indians, who suffered a heavy loss, did not
pursue. General Harmar at about this time, it
seems, had lost all confidence in the militia and de-
cided to return to Fort Washington at once. A con-
siderable number of the regulars of General Har-
mar’s army had followed Washington and other
generals in the War of the Revolution. Harmar,
in these engagements, lost near two hundred men.
The slain of this little army were buried in the
low bank near the ford of the Maumee on the
present site of Fort Wayne, Ind.
The father of Robert Gavin, now eighty years
old, who lives on Harmar and Liberty streets, Fort
Wayne, remembers the cut in the south bank of
Maumee river where General Harmar descended
to the Maumee ford. His father pointed out to him
when a boy the identical spot, which can still be
seen. His father cleared this bottom land and
raised the first corn crop on it. The graves of Har-
mar’s slain were all sunken in and his father filled
them up and leveled the ground so as to farm over
them with convenience. Here the bones of General
45
Harmar’s heroes had lain until the coming of An-
thony Wayne, when by his order, what could still be
found, were collected and decently interred.
The writer recently viewed the location of Har-
mar’s ford, which lies at the foot of Harmar street,
Fort Wayne. It shows no sign of blood and carnage
today. General Harmar was forced to struggle
homeward to Fort Washington as best he could, a
greatly disappointed commander. It was indeed a
dreary march.
This is a recent photograph of the exact location of Harmar’s Ford at the
foot of Harmar Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Taken August 3, 1913. A
small section of the Maumee and the adjacent banks, three-fourths of a
mile East of the Court House, marking the site of the slaughter of the
troops of General Josiah Harmar, October 22, 1790, by the Miamis and
Chief Little Turtle.
General Harmar resigned his commission the fol-
lowing January and was made Adjutant General of
Pennsylvania in 1798, in which position he later
rendered good service in furnishing troops for Gen-
eral Wayne’s army. He predicted defeat for Gen-
eral St. Clair’s army, which was being gathered with
great labor in 1791 to operate along the Maumee
river. This prediction of General Harmar before
the army set out on its fateful campaign was
founded upon his own experience and positive
knowledge of conditions. He saw with what ma-
terial the army was being formed—men collected
from the streets and prisons of the cities, hurried
out into the enemy’s country, and with their com-
manding officers totally unacquainted with the busi-
ness in which they were engaged. Besides, not
any one department was sufficiently prepared, both
the contractors and quartermasters extremely de-
ficient. It was utterly impossible, under these cir-
cumstances, to accomplish the design of the new ex-
pedition.
It was a matter of astonishment to General Har-
mar that the commanding general, St. Clair, who
was acknowledged to be totally incompetent, should
think of hazarding with such people and under such
circumstances his reputation and life, and the lives
of so many others, knowing, too, as both did, the
enemy with whom he was going to contend—an
enemy brought up from infancy to war, and perhaps
superior to an equal number of the best men that
could be taken against them. It is a truth that St.
Clair had hopes that the noise and show which the
army made on the march might deter the enemy
from attempting a serious, general attack.
General Harmar, after his retirement from office,
lived in comparative obscurity for some years on
the banks of the Schuykill and died about 1803. The
funeral was conducted with great military pomp, his
horse being draped in mourning and led in the pro-
cession. His sword and pistols were laid upon his
coffin, which was borne upon a bier, hearses not
being in use in those days.
“Oh, why does the white man follow my path
Like the hound on the raccoon’s track?
Does the flush on my dark cheek ’waken his wrath?
Does he covet the bow on my back?
He has rivers and seas where the billows and breeze
Bear riches for him alone,
And the sons of the wood never plunge in the flood
Which the white man calls his own.”
Anonymous.
ee ee
Le
ST. CLAIR’S EXPEDITION.
Soon after Harmar’s expedition the frontier set-
tlements of western Pennsylvania and along the
Ohio river were again attacked, and terror spread
among the people south of the river. It is esti-
mated that the population of the west at this time
was between one hundred and fifty and two hundred
thousand, scattered in groups—one in southwestern
Pennsylvania, two in western Virginia, about
Wheeling and the mouth of the Kenawha, and one
in Kentucky below the Licking river. These set-
tlers had poured in from the eastern states as well
MAJ.-GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR
as from several European countries since the close
of the Revolution, being attracted largely by the
great fertility of the land and the exceptional busi-
ness opportunities. For the most part, they had
floated down the Ohio in crude flatboats, but many
had come overland by Boone’s celebrated wilderness
road. To the hardships of their life in a new, ex-
ceedingly rough country, were added the terrors
of Indian attacks, inspired by killing, wounding and
capturing of more than fifteen hundred men, women
and children in Kentucky and vicinity since the
peace of 1783.
| 47
45
Delegates from several of the exposed counties
of Virginia petitioned the governor and the legis-
lature of that State authorized him to make tem-
porary provision for the protection of the frontier
until the United States government should take
proper steps in the same direction. Charles Scott,
who had served in the Revolution, was appointed
brigadier-general of the militia of Kentucky, then
a part of Virginia, and was ordered to raise a vol-
unteer force to co-operate with several companies
of rangers from the western counties and proceed
against the Wea villages on the Wabash (near
Lafayette, Ind.). Scott chose two Revolutionary
compatriots to accompany him on this raid, Colonel
James Wilkinson being placed second in command
and Colonel John Hardin in charge of the advance
guard. The expedition was delayed until May 23,
1791, awaiting the return of Proctor, but, hearing
nothing from him by that time, Scott crossed the
Qhio at the mouth of the Kentucky with some eight
hundred mounted men and arrived at Ouiatenon
(Lafayette, Ind.) June Ist. Here he found a vil-
lage of some seventy houses, with a number of
French inhabitants living in a state of civilization.
The village was burned and a large quantity of corn
and household goods destroyed. A detachment was
sent on foot against Tippecanoe, the most important
village, which was also destroyed. The army re-
turned with several prisoners, reaching the Ohio in
twelve days with the loss of only two men.
On August 1, 1791, Colonel Wilkinson was sent
against the Indians of the Eel river with a command
of five hundred and twenty-five mounted men. He
encountered much difficulty in. his march from Fort
Washington on account of the boggy land. Arriv-
ing at the mouth of the Eel river, he attacked the
village located there, killed a few Indians and cap-
tured others. Proceeding to Tippecanoe and Ouia-
tenon, the army destroyed the corn which had been
planted since Scott’s raid. The army reached the
rapids of the Ohio on the 2ist, having marched
some four hundred and fifty miles.
ene eng ae a at
AQ
Notwithstanding the loss suffered by the Indians,
they became more angry than ever. All the north-
western tribes made common cause with the Miamis
and banded together in more open warfare, so that
the settlers were in constant fear of the tomahawk
and scalping knife. The effects of Harmar’s cam-
paign both exasperated and encouraged them, and
the war whoop resounded through all the tribes.
Those Indians who were disposed to be on friendly
relations were overpowered by the impetuous flood of
savage enthusiasm. All the settlements in the great
valley in western Pennsylvania, western Virginia,
Kentucky and Ohio were alike menaced. The emi-
grants had much more to lose and much more to.
dread than the Indians. The farm houses of the
settlers were widely scattered. The burning of the
frontier villages, with the scalping and torturing
of men, women and children, was a horror which
no language can exaggerate. To burn the wigwam
of a savage was comparatively a light catastrophe.
He had no household furniture. A few hours’ labor
would restore his hut. He was in no danger, either
himself, his wife or his children, of being scalped
or tortured.
The perils to which the frontiers were exposed
were terrible. In view of them the stoutest heart
might quail. But often they found the settlers en-
trenching themselves in fort after fort circumscrib-
ing their range and cutting them entirely off from
their favorite hunting grounds south of the Ohio.
There can be no doubt that a determined hostility
sprang up in the minds of the savages which all the
exertions of the American government failed to
allay and soon rendered it apparent that the two
races could not live together in amity where it was
the policy of one to reclaim the country from the
hunter and of the other to keep it a wilderness.
In view of the situation of the frontier, the most
earnest petitions were sent to President Washing-
ton to authorize the raising of a force sufficiently
powerful to protect effectually the frontiers. The
President had in person witnessed all the horrors
50
of savage warfare and knew well how to sympathize
with those suffering pioneers. He promptly per-
suaded Congress, in the session which terminated
on the third day of March, 1791, to authorize him
to raise a regiment of regulars and two thousand
volunteers to serve for six months. Immediate and
vigorous measures were adopted for a new cam-
paign. In the spring of 1791 the President ap-
pointed Governor St. Clair Major General and
placed him in command of the army in place of
General Harmar, who resigned on his return to
Fort Washington. Colonel Richard Butler was pro-
moted to the office of General and placed second in
COL. RICHART BUTLER
Pennsylvania
Killed in Battle St. Clair’s Defeat.
command. The Quartermaster General, Mr. Samuel
Hogdon, upon leaving Philadelphia, was furnished
by Congress with twenty thousand dollars and Jater
with an additional sum of seventeen thousand dol-
lars for equipping the new army on the proposed
expedition. (The fact that St. Clair had consider-
able money with him when in the field is indicated
by the testimony of one John Drawbaugh, who was
with the army. Several years after the battle on
the Wabash the grandfather of the author accom-
panied this man to the site west of Lightsville, in
northern Darke county, where a large sum of specie
had been buried the day before the conflict. Ac-
51
cording to Drawbaugh’s statement, he was one of
four privates who accompanied an officer on the
secret mission of burying the coin, and all of his
companions were killed in battle the next day.—
Calvin Young.) These sums were considered amply
sufficient at that early date for the purpose desig-
nated and seem to indicate that the fathers of the
new republic had been schooled in economy and self-
sacrifice.
The organizers and leaders of the confederated
Indian forces at this juncture were Little Turtle,
who, with intelligence, craft and courage, en-
deavored to rally the northwestern tribes, together ©
with Blue Jacket, the great Chief of the Shawnees,
and Buckongahelas, Chief of the Delawares. These
savages were aided and abetted by the notorious
renegades, Simon Girty, Matthew Elliot and Alex-
ander McKee, whose council and experience were
valuable assets to the untutored Indians in their
attempt to drive the white settlers beyond the Ohio.
Chief among these forest heroes whose exploits
have made history illustrious was the daring Me-
she-kin-no-quah. Gifted with the essential qualities
which characterize the men accepted as leaders in
civilized communities and nearly exempt from the
eccentricities peculiar to his race, his many virtues
shown with untarnished luster. Amidst the turmoil
of the camp and the vengeful spirit of the times,
these Chiefs, in connection with Simon Girty,
Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliot and other rene-
gades, headed a band of warriors whose discipline
had probably never been equaled in Indian warfare.
Nothing but a decisive blow by a large and well
organized force could quell the uprising being for-
mulated by these leaders. The poet well describes
the situation at this time when he says:
“They rise by stream and yellow shore,
By meadow, moor and fen,
By weedy rock and torrents’ roar
And lonesome forest glen.
“From many a weedy, moss-grown mound
Start forth a war-worn band,
As when of old they caught the sound
Of hostile arms and closed around
To guard their native land.”
—Anonymous.
The Indians, at the instigation of the British,
contended for the Ohio river as the boundary line
of the United States. To get control of the upper
lakes and the valuable fur trade around them was.a
favorite scheme of the British statesmen. It was
proposed by the British commissioners who nego-
tiated the treaty of peace in 1814, as an indis-
pensable requirement, that the Indians inhabiting
that portion of the United States within the limits
established by the treaty of 1783 should be included,
as the allies of Great Britain, in the projected pacifi-
cation, and that the boundaries be settled for Indian
territory upon a basis which would have operated
to surrender to a number of Indians, not to exceed
a few thousand, the right of sovereignty as well as
soil over nearly one-third of the territorial do-
minion of the United States inhabited by more than
one hundred thousand of its citizens. When the
British left Fort George, at the foot of Broadway,
New York, November 25, 1783, they left their flag
flying. It was believed that the absence of British
authority in the United States would be only tem-
porary, hence the continuation of the Indian wars
in the northwest at their behest.
The final war of 1812 is justly termed the second
war for American independence. This war gave
to every true-born American an idea of absolute in-
dependence from British thraldom. Hence, Elihu
Slocum, says truly, “The war of 1775-1783 —be-
tween the United Colonies and Great Britain was
revolutionary; the war of 1812-1814 between the
United States and Great Britain was the war of
independence.”
When, after many vexatious delays and disap-
pointments, St. Clair’s army commenced its march
53
into the wilderness from Ludlow’s Station on Sep-
tember 17, 1791, the obstructions were so great that
its progress was very slow. Twenty-four miles
north of Fort Washington (Cincinnati, Ohio) they
erected a strong blockhouse on the eastern bank
of the Great Miami river, leaving a small garrison
at this place. St. Clair named this post Fort Hamil-
ton. Continuing slowly northward forty-four
miles, the army arrived at a beautiful camp site
and on October 12th, soon built Fort Jefferson. On
the 24th another advance of six miles was made.
Shortly after leaving Fort Jefferson, one of the
militia regiments, with their usual disregard to
discipline, determined that it was inexpedient to
proceed farther, and, detaching themselves from the
main body, returned rapidly to the fort on their way
home. General St. Clair was daily expecting the
arrival of provisions in a caravan of wagons.
Apprehensive that the deserters might seize and
plunder these wagons, he hastily detached quite a
large force of the first regiment to pursue the de-
serters and attack them, if necessary, and rescue
and protect the wagons. These various operations
so diminished his forces that his main army now
consisted of but fourteen hundred men. His march
became toilsome and difficult; the dreary month of
November had come with its storms of wind and
rain; the route in a northwest direction led through
a wet, marshy, inhospitable region covered with a
dense forest. There was no road through these
gloomy wilds; the axe had to be incessantly in use
in felling the trees, often of gigantic size, and in
removing stumps to open a passage for the baggage
wagons and artillery.
The heavily laden wheels often sank to their hubs.
General St. Clair was aged, infirm, and was suffer-
ing severely from the gout. It indicated a want of
judgment in him under those circumstances to have
undertaken the leadership in so arduous a campaign.
And it cannot be denied that he was entirely out-
generaled by the Indian Chiefs.
On the third of November the army reached a
54
point about one hundred miles north of Fort Wash-
ington. They were still fifty miles from the Indian
towns on the Maumee river which was their intend-
ed destination. It was a dismal day, with chilling
winds and the ground covered with snow. The
weary and water-soaked soldiers had cut their way
through an almost pathless forest and approached
a creek about thirty-five feet wide, which proved
SCALE
160 YARDS
TO THE INCH
PLAN OF ST. CLAIR’S CAMP AND BATTLE
to be the headwaters of the Wabash river. There
was a small, elevated meadow on the east banks of
this stream, while a dense forest spread gloomily
all around. Here General St. Clair took up his en-
campment for the night. The militia encamped
across the creek, a distance of about three hundred
yards, intending to throw up some slight works on
the morrow for the purpose of protecting their
knapsacks and baggage. During the evening St.
5D
Clair discussed the plan of the proposed work with
Major Ferguson of the engineers, expecting to move
upon the Miami village as soon as the first regi-
ment should rejoin them. The troops were en-
camped in two lines with an interval of seventy
yards, which was all the nature of the ground would
permit. The battalions of Majors Butler, Clark and
Patterson composed the front line, which was under
the orders of General Butler, an officer of high and
merited reputation. The second line was composed
of the battalions of Majors Gaither and Bedinger,
and the second regiment under the command of Lieu-
tenant Colonel Darke. The front and right flanks
LIEUT. COL. WILLIAM DARKE
A hero of St. Clair’s defeat, after whom
Darke County, Ohio, was named.
were protected by the creek, the left flank by a steep
bank, Faulkner’s corps and some infantry. Skilled
in the use of the axe, they speedily cut down trees
and built roaring fires in the intervening space
which illuminated the forest far and wide and en-
abled both parties to cook their suppers and enjoy
the genial warmth. Few scouts were sent out, for
all were nearly perishing with cold and weariness,
and there were no indications whatever that a-foe
was at hand in any forceful number. But the cun-
26
ning Little Turtle and a large number of savages
were in the forests nearby watching every move-
ment and selecting their positions behind trees,
from which, unseen and protected, the bullet could
be sent with unerring aim upon their foe huddled
together without any shelter. The night passed
quietly away, but through its long hours the savages,
unseen and with the silent tread of the panther,
were making their preparations for the slaughter.
It seems that Little Turtle was watching with an
eagle’s restless eye for another opportunity to strike
the American army. The coming victory over St.
Clair was clearly the result, not of overwhelming
numbers, but of superior generalship.
WAYNE STREET, FORT RECOVERY
The principal site of St. Clair’s engagement was along this street, a short
distance north of this scene. The low place in the picture marks the site
of the ravine which bounded St. Clair’s camp on the south and afforded
shelter for the Indians.
Here on the banks of the Wabash, about daylight
on the morning of the 4th of November, 1791, Little
Turtle assailed St. Clair’s army, in front, on both
flanks and finally the rear.
Early in the morning the militia on the opposite
side of the creek were in thoughtless confusion pre-
paring their breakfast when the yell of a thousand
savages fell upon their ears, followed by the report
of musketry and a deadly discharge of bullets,
scarcely one of which missed its aim. The slaughter
a7
was so dreadful that the panic-stricken militia fled
instantly and with the utmost precipitation. Many
of them did not stop to pick up their guns, but
plunged pell mell through the creek, broke resist-
lessly through the first line and stopped, a:tumultu-
ous, helpless mass, at the second. All this was the
work of but a few minutes. And now the little
army, huddled together in terror-stricken confusion,
were exposed to a deadly fire from every direction,
no foe being visible except when here and there a
warrior darted from the protection of one tree to
another. Colonel Darke was in command of the
second line of regulars when the flight of the militia
was arrested. He succeeded in forming his line and
This is a view of Fort Recovery at the present time, showing Wabash
river and location of General St. Clair’s artillery during
the battle of November 4, 1791
charged into the forest. The wary Indians in that
portion of the circumference retired before him,
while a storm of bullets from all around was rapidly
striking down his men. As Darke again drew back
to his position the Indians followed like the closing
in of the waves of the sea. It seems a large party
of Indian sharpshooters had been especially de-
signed to attack the artillerymen. In a short time
every man at the guns had been shot down. Not
an hour elapsed from the commencement of the con-
flict before one-half of the men of St. Clair’s army
were either killed or wounded and most of the
horses were shot. Our artillery being now silent,
58
all of the officers killed except Captain Ford, who
was badly wounded, more than half the army fallen,
and, being cut off from the road, it became necessary
. to attempt the regaining it and to make a retreat,
if possible. To this purpose the remnants of the
army were formed as well as circumstances would
admit towards the right of the encampment, from
which, by the way of the second line, another charge
was made upon the enemy, as if with the design to
turn their right flank, but, in fact, to gain the road.
This was affected and as soon as it was open the
militia entered, followed by the troops. Major
Clark with his battalion covered the retreat. Under
these circumstances the remnant of the army was
hurled headlong down the trail southward for a
distance of four or five miles with terrible slaughter
by the victorious and triumphant Indian warriors.
No such defeat at the hands of the Red men had
heretofore occurred in American history, not even
that of General Braddock in 1775. Down to the pres-
ent time it has only been surpassed once, viz, the
disastrous defeat of General Custer on the Big Horn
June 25, 1876.
The rout continued quite to Fort Jefferson,
twenty-nine miles. The action began about half
an hour before sunrise and the retreat was at-
tempted at half past nine o’clock. St. Clair’s defeat
was described by one Mr. Thomas Irwin, a wagoner
in the army, in a diary which he kept at the time.
The battle always reminded him of a furious
thunder storm that comes up rapidly and soon dis-
appears, leaving havoc and desolation in its path.
This Mr. Irwin now has descendants in Greenville,
Ohio, one of whom assisted in the unveiling of the
stone marker at the centennial of the signing of the
Wayne treaty August 3, 1895.
In this dreadful disaster the Indians killed over
seven hundred of St. Clair’s army, took seven pieces
of cannon, two hundred oxen, a great number of
horses and. a few prisoners. Most of the wounded
on the immediate battlefield were tomahawked and
scalped. The Indians lost sixty-six warriors. The
59
loss to the Americans is said to have been greater
than that of any battle of the Revolution. The
morning of St. Clair’s defeat the boom of cannon
was heard by the returning detachment thirty miles
away. ‘They were marching post haste to the relief
of the army on the field of battle when they were
met by the flying fugitives two or three miles north
of the present city of Greenville, Ohio.
Among those engaged in this disastrous battle
was a gentleman from New Jersey, Captain Littell,
with his step-son, Stephen. The Captain had been
aman of war from his youth. He had been engaged
in thirteen skirmishes with the Indians and had —
gained much reputation in the battles at Brandy-
wine and Germantown. Having been unfortunate
in business, he had turned his attention to the new
lands in the west. His son, who had accompanied
him, had just attained his majority. The Captain,
thinking that as a member of St. Clair’s expedition
he would have a fine opportunity of exploring the
country, applied for a commission. Being too late
in his application, both he and his son enlisted in
the ranks. He entertained the supposition, which,
unfortunately, was very general, that there would
be no fighting. It was thought that the Indians,
appalled by the approach of so formidable a force,
would not only make no resistance, but would throw
down their arms and be for peace. The company
to which Littell and his son attached themselves
was composed mainly of young men from New
Jersey, most of whom had come out for the purpose
of viewing the country. This company was esteemed
one of the best military corps. It was stationed in
the advance upon the other side of the creek where
the savages commenced their onset. Captain Littell,
being hotly engaged in the fight, was not aware of
the order to retreat until the enemy was all around
him. With the gleaming tomahawks of the savages
almost over his head, he sprang forward to cross
the stream. As he leaped down the precipitous
bank he stumbled and fell into a hollow of mud and
water and thus escaped the shower of bullets
60
whisking all around him. The pursuing Indians,
supposing him to be shot dead and that they could
return at their pleasure for his scalp, rushed by for
other victims. Fortunately, the Captain was some-
what screened from observation by the rank grass
and dense underbrush which fringed the stream.
His boots were filled with water, thus rendering
rapid flight impossible. As he was emptying his
boots and making preparations for escape he was
discovered by a solitary Indian, who, supposing him
to be helplessly wounded, rushed incautiously
toward him to take his scalp. He stumbled over
some slight impediment and Captain Littell, spring-
ing up, plunged his sword to the hilt in his bosom.
The savage dropped dead into the water. The Cap-
tain then fled into the forest. After two days of
solitary wandering and much suffering he reached
Fort Jefferson in safety.
The escape of his son, Stephen, was still more re-
markable. At the commencement of the battle he
was at the extreme advance. Being unable to keep
up with his comrades in their precipitated flight, he
sprang aside and hid in a dense thicket. The yelling
savages rushed by in their hot pursuit. The Indians
were thus soon between him and the rest of the
troops. Here he remained for some time in dread-
ful suspense as the roar of the battle died away in
the distance, the Indians being in full chase of the
flying army. He then ventured slowly forward until
he reached the scene of the night’s encampment.
Awful was the scene presented to him there. The
bodies of the seven or eight hundred killed and
wounded encumbered the ground. It was a cold,
frosty morning. The scalped heads presented a
very revolting spectacle, a peculiar vapor ascended
from them all. Many of these poor creatures were
still alive. Groans assembled from all sides. Sev-
eral of the wounded, knowing that as soon as the
savages returned they would be doomed to death by
torture, implored young Littell to put an end to their
misery. This he refused to do. Seeing among the
dead, one who bore a strong resemblance to his
ee a
6]
father he was in the act of turning over the body
to examine the features when the exultant and ter-
rific shouts of the returning savages fell upon his
ear, and already he could see through the forests the
plumed warriors rushing back. It so chanced that
an evergreen tree of very dense foliage had been
felled near where he stood. It was his only possible
escape. He sprang into the tree and turned its
branches as well as he could around him. Scarcely
had he done this than the savages came bounding
upon the ground like so many demons. Im-
mediately they commenced their fiend-like acts of
torture upon all the wounded. One of their principal ©
amusements was to bind a captive to a tree and see
how near his head they could throw their toma-
hawks without killing him. If the cruel weapon
chanced to strike the cheek or the brow, bringing
forth the gushing blood, it only brought forth the
shouts of merriment, giving additional zest to the
game. One of their tomahawks thus thrown came
so near the tree where Stephen was concealed that
he could have stooped forward and picked it up. As
the savage sprang to get it, Littell felt sure that his
keen eye was fixed upon him and he had doubted not
that his dreadful doom was sealed. The Indian,
fortunately, did not see him, but caught up the mur-
derous weapon and sank it to the hilt in the brain
of the victim he was torturing.
The scenes he continued to witness were more
awful than the imagination could possibly conceive.
Here our subject remained until a suitable time ar-
rived for him to make his escape, which he did, the
only one left to tell the sad story of the awful battle-
field.
Incredible as it may seem, it is stated that there
were two hundred and fifty women among the camp
followers in this campaign. This can only be ac-
counted for upon the supposition that they, with the
rest of the community, imagined there would be no
fighting, that a treaty of friendship would be made
with the Indians, and that garrisons would be estab-
lished under whose protection they, with their hus-
62
bands, might find new homes. Fifty-six of them
were killed and they were tortured, if possible, even
more fiendishly than the men. Some accounts say:
“That two hundred of these women fell victims to
savage barbarity.”
One woman was running with her babe, but one
year old, in her arms, and, in utter exhaustion, as
she was about to fall by the wayside she threw her
wailing child into the snow. The Indians picked
up the babe, spared its life and took it to Sandusky,
where it was brought up as one of the tribe. There
was a tall woman with streaming red hair known
as Red Headed Nance, who kept in advance of all
the fugitives and eventually reached Fort Washing-
ton (Cincinnati, Ohio), where she lived until a ripe
old age. Years afterward she would tell of the great
difficulty she had in saving her scalp at the time of
St. Clair’s defeat.
The bodies of some of those women were found
on the battlefield with stakes driven through them;
some of the soldiers were found with their mouths
filled with earth, signifying that they were land
hungry. All were treated alike with the most
shocking barbarity.
In justice to General Arthur St. Clair, the com-
manding officer of the army, on November 4, 1791,
it must be said that a committee appointed by the
House of Representatives to inquire into the cause
of the disaster which reported after the most patient
and careful inspection that the defeat was due
chiefly to the gross and various mismanagement of
others and should in no wise be imputed to the com-
mander-in-chief.
With his dismissal from office as governor of the
western territory November 22, 1802, the public life
of General St. Clair terminated. Broken in health
and fortune, he now returned, at the age of sixty-
eight, after a life spent largely in the service of his
adopted country, to the Ligonier valley in western
Pennsylvania. He had never been reimbursed by
the government for the private means spent by him
during the War of the Revolution. General St.
63
Clair, at the critical period in the finance of the
Continental Congress, mortgaged his entire manorial
estate of eight thousand acres and loaned the money
to the government to purchase arms and equipment
for the continental army. This loan was never re-
paid. In addition to this, during the Indian cam-
paign of 1791 he had again advanced his personal
credit to the public service and the officers of the
government, for more or less technical reasons, now
and thereafter turned a deaf ear to his appeals for
reimbursement or succor. He struggled earnestly
from year to year to retrieve his broken fortune,
but when the years of the embargo came and values
of all American property suffered such terrible de-
preciation he was compelled to stand by and see the
last of his property, real and personal, sold by the
sheriff, and himself left out, nearly eighty years of
age, absolutely penniless, dependent upon the charity
of his family and friends.
In referring to this execution, St. Clair himself
wrote: ‘They left me a few books of my classical
library, and the bust of John Paul Jones which he
sent me from Europe, for which I was very grate-
ful.”” One of his sons built him a log cabin on a
small piece of ground on Chestnut Ridge, five miles
west of Ligonier. Here he lived in honorable pov-
erty until August 31, 1818, when he died from the
effects of an injury sustained in being thrown from
a wagon while driving to town.
His neglect by the government in his old age was
a disgrace to the nation, especially in view of the
lavish sums bestowed on Lafayette and other Revo-
lutionary soldiers. Such treatment could not now
occur. Thus the hero of two wars and of countless
deeds of faithfulness, bravery and self-denial in
times of peace was quietly interred in the little
burying ground of the neighborhood hamlet of
Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
By a strange and sad coincidence, General Clark,
conquerer of the great northwest, and General St.
Clair, were both permitted to die in poverty, neglect
Ut
and obscurity. Both met a similar fate at about
the same age and in the same year.
The language of the epitaph upon the simple
stone which was afterwards erected at the grave
of St. Clair by his Masonic brethren has often been
quoted and should still carry its earnest appeal to
men of our time. It is as follows: “The earthly
remains of Major-General St. Clair are deposited be-
neath this humble monument, which is erected to
supply the place of a nobler one due from his coun-
Env
He was a descendant of the Earl of Orkney Isles,
afterward of Caithness and Roslyn. He was born
in Scotland in 1734, was educated at the University
of Edinburgh. His name always suggests a striking
example of the ingratitude of men and republics.
Blanchard, in his “History and Conquest of the
Northwest Territory,” says: ‘Marietta was by
far the most congenial place for the residence of his
family. Accordingly, suitable apartments were
fitted up for his family to reside in Campus Martius.
In Louisa, his oldest daughter, were united the
western heroine with the refinements of Philadel-
phia, where she was educated. In the winter of
1790 she was seen skating on the Muskingum river,
in which exercise few of the young officers could
equal her in activity. During successive years she
often rode through the adjacent forests on horse-
back with her rifle, undaunted by the dangers of
Indian ambuscades. Her skill in the use of this
weapon was sometimes turned to-a_good account in
the wild game with which she furnished her father’s
table, shot by the bullet under the fatal aim of her
blue eye.”
Hildreth, the pioneer historian, in his rapturous
praises of her surpassing beauty and grace, in his
imagination, substitutes a bow and arrow for her
rifle and sees her flying through the wooded heather,
mounted on her high mettled steed, like Diana, the
daughter of Jupiter and goddess of hunting.
In this gifted lady was represented the type of
Americans, the transcendant images of civilization
65
before which all bow with loyalty and devotion.
Should this power supplant the barbarism of the
forest and make it teem with joy and beauty, multi-
plied with years, or should the inherent rights of
the Indian be respected and the country which he
owned be held sacred to the chase and occupied only
by the tenants of the wigwams?
It was nearly a year before the general govern-
ment made another attempt for the conquest of the
northwestern tribes, who, it seems, had so far been
invincible in spite of all the efforts brought to bear
upon them.
Immediately following the resignation of General
St. Clair and during this period of time Brigadier-
General Wilkinson was the temporary commander
at Fort Washington, whose duty it was to furnish
provisions and supplies to the outlying garrisons of
Forts Hamilton, St. Clair and Jefferson.
Fort St. Clair was erected in the tempestuous
nonths of the winter of 1791-2. It was started
December 15, 1791, and completed January 26, 1792.
General Wilkinson sent Major John §S. Gano, be-
longing to the militia of the territory with a party
to build the fort. William Henry Harrison, then
but an ensign, commanded a guard over others for
about three weeks during the erection of the fort.
They had neither fire nor covering of any kind and
suffered much from the winter’s cold. It was a
stockade of the usual kind, about three hundred feet
square, and had about twenty acres cleared around
it. The outline can yet be traced in the contour of
the field surface. It was designed to be the midway
fortification between Fort Hamilton on the south
and Fort Jefferson on the north, some forty-four
miles apart. These forts, Washington, Hamilton,
St. Clair and Jefferson, were about twenty-five miles
apart and connected by road or trace cut through
the dense timber and undergrowth by the soldiers
of St. Clair’s army.
In the autumn of 1792 Little Turtle, the cele-
brated Miami Chief, at the head of about two hun-
dred and fifty Mingo and Wyandot warriors, started
66
out to attack a new settlement of the whites then
forming at the mouth of the Little Miami river
(then called Columbia, Ohio). When passing near
Fort Hamilton the Indians attacked some of the
garrison working in the timber and captured two
of them, from whom they learned that a company
of from fifty to one hundred mounted Kentucky
riflemen, escorting a brigade of pack horses and
under command of Major John Adair, were on their
way to Fort Jefferson and would pass on the return
trip at a certain time. Accordingly, they lay in
ambush along the trail. The escort, however,
rested at Fort Jefferson over Sunday and did not
appear as soon as expected. Hearing when the
Kentuckians had advanced as far as Fort St. Clair,
the Indians planned a surprise and attacked them
before daylight on the 6th of November, 1792.
Major Adair was suddenly and violently attacked
by a large party of Indians, who rushed on the en-
campment with great fury. A bloody conflict en-
sued, during which Major Adair ordered Lieutenant
Madison with a small party to gain the right flank
of the enemy, if possible, and at the same time gave
an order for Lieutenant Hall to attack their left,
but, learning that that officer had been slain, the
Major, with about twenty-five of his men, made the
attack in person, with a view of sustaining Lieu-
tenant Madison. The pressure of this movement
caused the enemy to retire. They were driven
about six hundred yards through and beyond the
American camp, where they made a stand and again
fought desperately. At this juncture about sixty
of the Indians made an effort to turn the right
flank of the whites. Major Adair, foreseeing the
consequence of this maneuver, found it necessary
to order a retreat. That movement was effected
with regularity and, as was expected, the Indians
pursued them to their camp, where a halt was made
and another severe battle was fought, in which the
Indians suffered severely and were driven from the
ground. In this affair six of the whites were killed,
Lieutenant Job Hadle, Sergeant Matthew English,
67
Privates Robert Bowling, Joseph Clinton, Isaac Jett
and John Williams. Among the wounded were Lieu-
tenant George Madison (afterwards governor) and
Colonel Richard Taylor, the father of Major-General
Taylor, who commanded the United States army in
the Mexican War and later President of the United
States.
During the campaign of 1813 Major Adair accom-
panied Governor Shelby into Canada as an aid, and
was present in that capacity at the battle of the
Thames. “He was elected Governor of Kentucky in
1820. A county in Kentucky was also named in
grateful remembrance of General John Adair.
As above mentioned, on this occasion the Indians |
were commanded by Chief Little Turtle.
It so happened some years afterward, in 1805-6,
when General Adair was registrar of the land office
in Frankfort, Captain William Wells, Indian agent,
passed through that place on his way to Washington
City, attended by some Indians, among whom was
Chief Little Turtle. General Adair called on his
old antagonist, and in the course of the conversation,
the incident above related being alluded to, General
Adair attributed his defeat to his having been taken
in surprise. Then Little Turtle immediately re-
marked with great pleasantness, “A good General
is never taken by surprise.”
68
MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE
IV.
WAYNE’S CAMPAIGN.
The next commander-in-chief of the American
army to appear upon the arena of western warfare
was General Anthony Wayne, who arrived at Fort
Washington (Cincinnati, Ohio) in April, 1793, with
a well organized army of some twenty-six hundred
troops. |
During the course of the summer Wayne became
w
+4
9
=
3
ve
a P)
FORT GREENVILLE
SCALE FINCH +20 RODS.
OUTLINE FORT GREENEVILLE, 1793
convinced that the northwest tribes would not ac-
cept reasonable terms of peace and consequently
broke camp at Fort Washington the 7th of October,
marching northwest with twenty-six hundred regu-
lars. thirty-six guides and spies and three hundred
and sixty mounted militia.
The 13th of October found Wayne encamped six
miles north of Fort Jefferson and about eighty miles
G9
£9
north of Fort Washington, on a beautiful high plain
on the south bank of the southwest branch of Still-
water, a tributary of the Great Miami. This was
the same spot where St. Clair had encamped two
years previously while awaiting the arrival of sup-
plies. Accordingly, a large fortification was here
constructed overlooking the extensive prairie to the
southwest with the creek in front, which, with the
fort, were both named Greene Ville, in honor of Gen-
eral Nathaniel Greene, a fellow officer of Wayne in
the Revolution. This fort covered some fifty acres
and was fortified to resist any attack that the sav-
ages and their allies might make against it. The
soldiers were quartered in commodious huts, each
sheltering six men, and extensive provisions were
made for the convenience and comfort of the entire
army. Storehouses, artificer’s shops, mess rooms,
officers’ headquarters and a magazine were also
erected at suitable places.
Thus October 13, 1793, will ever be remembered
as the day in which a fort in the western wilderness
and later a beautiful city received its name.
On October 17th, just four days after Wayne’s
arrival at Greene Ville, Little Turtle made a dash on
a baggage and provision train on the trail some
five miles north of Fort St. Clair (now Eaton, Ohio).
The convoys, consisting of about ninety men, were
under the command of Lieutenant Lowery and En-
sign Boyd and were loaded with supplies and pro-
visions for the army. In the affray which fol-
lowed, Lowery and Boyd and thirteen non-commis-
sioned officers and privates were killed and seventy
packhorses were killed or driven away. This inci-
dent shows plainly that Little Turtle was by no
means idle, but was constantly hanging on the out-
skirts of Wayne’s army, ever ready to strike a blow
if the opportunity should present itself.
Not long after this two white men who had been
prisoners in the Miami villages escaped and re-
ported that the Indian warriors made all manner
of fun in describing the manner in which General
St. Clair posted his troops. They even got up a
7]
sham fight in representation of it for the amusement
of the squaws, and with great roars of laughter
they re-enacted the scene, calling it St. Clair’s fight
and dance. They said they intended annually to
celebrate this victory by a similar contemptuous
festival.
But war is a very uncertain game and the brag-
gadocie is very apt eventually to be humbled.
Not long after this the Indians had their turn
in dancing as they were pierced by the bullets of
the white man under General Wayne and they found
something more serious to attend to than engaging
in mock fights. 7
Among the considerations which now operated on
the mind of President Washington at this trying
period of our national history, which we are com-
pelled to consider for a moment, was the poverty
of the nation loaded with debt and without much
commerce. The people of the east looked upon this
western war as a burden which the western people
ought to bear. Hence a tax was placed on distil-
leries, owned mostly in the west, which grew out
cf the expenses on this Indian war. This tax led
directly to the whiskey insurrection in western Penn-
sylvania. And it need not be disguised that the op-
position to the present constitution laid hold of
everything within their reach to render General
Washington unpopular. They pretended to fear so
large a standing army of five thousand four hun-
dred men. They saw, too, with alarm, Mr. Wash-
ington’s levies and the pomp of Colonel Pickering,
General Knox and other heads of departments wit
salaries of three thousand dollars a year, though the
compensation was so small that they and their fami-
lies could not live decently on it. The French Revo-:
lution, too, was raging, and Genet was busily engaged
in his endeavors to draw us into the vortex of Euro-
pean politics. General Washington was beset on all
sides with French agents and partisans on the At-
lantic border were fomenting discontent. The Brit-
ish and their Indians were desolating our frontier ©
12
and, as Atwater truly tells us, ‘““Waked the babe
from the sleep of the cradle.”
It was early in this year, we believe, that Presi-
dent Washington, after appointing General Wayne
and other officers to command the western army
and doing all that he had the power to do, made a
tour to the Indians of western New York in com-
pany with Colonel Pickering. Colonel Pickering
tarried one night at the house of Caleb Atwater’s
father, while General Washington put up at a near
neighbor’s, a Mr. Bloom.
General Washington and Colonel Pickering vis-
ited all the New York Indians, held councils with
them and delivered talks and speeches to them, some
of which Atwater says he saw among these Indians
in 1828 while he was on a visit to his old friends
still living in the Indian village. This visit was
made by General Washington to conciliate those
savages and to prevent their joining in the war
with the British Indians, as they had done all along
before this period. Many New York Indians were
present at St. Clair’s defeat and some of them still
went off and fought against General Wayne in 1794,
when they were defeated and mostly killed on the
Maumee river.
In the summer of 1793 Wayne tried to treat with
the Indians. Fort Massac was built under him to
prevent an expedition against New Orleans, which
Genet was planning. General Wayne sent out in
succession Colonel Hardin and Major Trueman with
a flag of truce, medals, talks and presents to the
Indians in order to make a peace with them. These
messengers of peace were killed in succession as
soon as they arrived among the savages. Their
medals and speeches sent by them and all they had
with them were taken by the Indians, who slew the
bearers of them.
Atwater saw these medals and speeches in the
possession of the elder Carray, Maumee principal
Chief of the Winnebagoes, at Prairie du Chien in
July, 1829. The medal was a large one of copper,
six inches in diameter and purported, no doubt, truly
fe
to have been made at the expense of a gentleman in
Philadelphia, and by him sent as a token of Presi-
dent Washington’s friendship to the Indians. Every
other effort was made by General Wayne that sum-
mer to bring about a peace with the savages, but
all in vain. But, notwithstanding all the efforts to
make a peace, yet nothing was omitted that could be
done to prepare a vigorous war against them.
Although General Wayne promptly accepted his
appointment and entered on its arduous duties, yet
it was found no easy matter to fill up the minor
appointments, even the very next in grade to the
commander-in-chief of this army. Several were
appointed to these offices who refused to accept
them. It was found difficult, too, to enlist soldiers
for this hazardous service. Everything moved along
slowly and the season was spent in doing very little
to any good effect.
The British commander of the fort at Detroit had
erected a fort at the head of the Maumee Bay for
the purpose, it would seem, of protecting the Indians
in alliance with him. Here the Indians resorted
for protection. Here they sold their furs, belts and
skins, received their annuities, and we doubt not
that they received here also the price paid for the
scalps of our murdered countrymen.
General Wayne was not idle, but urged forward
all his measures vigorously, prudently, and, in the
end, effectually. On the 5th of November, 1798,
Congress met at Philadelphia, to whom the Presi-
dent said in his speech at the commencement of the
session, ‘That the reiterated attempts which had
been made to effect a pacification with the Indians
had issued only in new and outrageous proofs of
preserving hostility on the part of the tribes with
whom we were at war.”
He alluded to the destruction of Hardin and True-
man while on peaceful missions under the sanction
of flags of truce, and their families were recom-
mended to the attention of Congress.
Notwithstanding all these efforts of General
Washington in favor of the bleeding frontier,
14
Congress and the nation were too much engaged
with other objects to bestow attention on this dis-
tant war.
The spring and summer of 1793, having been
employed by General Wayne in endeavoring to make
peace and in preparing for war, so that it was Sep-
tember before he was really to move forward into
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Drawn By R-H.Horn.
OUTLINE MAP OF
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ARKE COUNTY, O.
— -o °
Showing Forts GreeneVille and Jefferson
15
the heart of the Indian country. General Wayne
collected his army and marched six miles north of
Fort Jefferson, where he established a camp and
fortified it and called it Greene Ville, as before
stated in these pages.
During the winter Wayne sent a detachment to
the site of St. Clair’s defeat, twenty-three miles
north of Fort Greene Ville, and built Fort Recovery.
Six hundred skulls were gathered up and buried,
and they scraped the bones together and carried
them out to make their beds. This post was garri-
soned and placed in command of Captain Gibson.
President Washington had given General Wayne
very minute instructions respecting the campaign.
He suggested the order of march, the way to guard
against surprises, the mode of forming speedily in
order of battle in the thick woods. The camp at
night was always to be in the form of a hollow
square protected by a breastwork of fallen timber .
or of earth. The cavalry and baggage were to be
within the square. The troops were to be kept
under the highest possible state of discipline and
to be especially exercised in loading and firing
rapidly and accurately. Particularly they were to
be taught to load while running. The General was
entreated not to spare powder or lead in giving the
troops skill in these practices so essential in Indian
warfare.
The Indians had carefully watched the proceed-
ings of the troops in erecting Fort Recovery on the
ground rendered memorable by the defeat of St.
Clair. They resolved to make a desperate effort to
destroy the small garrison left in guard there and
to gain the fort for themselves. On the 30th of
June, 1794, a large force, consisting of several hun-
dred Indians, with several companies of Canadians
with blackened faces and in Indian costume, led by
British officers in full dress and the Chief Little
Turtle, who led the Miamis, made a furious attack
upon the fort. Major McMahon was just on the
route with supplies for the garrison from Fort
Greene Ville and had not yet entered it when the at-
716
tack commenced. This convoy consisted of about
one hundred and fifty men. Mr. Burnet, in his
notes, gives the following account of this important
conflict :
He says, “A very severe and bloody battle was
fought under the walls of Fort Recovery between
a detachment of American troops consisting of
ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, commanded by
Major McMahon, and a very numerous body of
Indians and British, who, at the same instant,
rushed on the attachment and assailed the fort on
every side with fury. They were repulsed with a
heavy loss, but again rallied and renewed the attack,
keeping up a heavy and constant fire during the
whole day, which was returned with spirit and effect
by the garrison. The succeeding night was foggy
and dark and gave the Indians an opportunity of
carrying off their dead by torch light, which oc-
casionally drew a fire from the garrison. They,
however, succeeded so well that there were but eight
or ten bodies left on the ground which were too
near the garrison to be approached. On the next
morning, McMahon’s detachment having entered the
fort, the enemy renewed the attack and continued
it with great desperation during the day, but were
ultimately compelled to retreat from the same field
on which they had been proudly victorious on the
4th of November 1791. The expectation of the as-
sailants must have been to surprise the post and
carry it by storm, for they could not possibly have
received intelligence of the movements of the escorts
under Major McMahon, which only marched from
Greene Ville on the morning preceding and on the
same evening deposited in Fort Recovery the sup-
plies it had conveyed. That occurence, therefore,
could not have led to the movements of the savages.
Judging from the extent of their encampment and
their line of march, consisting in several different
columns forming a wide and extended front, and
from other circumstances, it was believed that their
numbers could not have been less than from fifteen
hundred to two thousand warriors. It was also
(7
believed that they were in want of provisions, as
they had killed and eaten a number of pack horses
in their encampment the evening after their assault,
and also at their encampment on their return, seven
miles from Fort Recovery, where they remained two
nights, having been much encumbered with their
dead and wounded.”
From the official report of Major Mills, Adjutant-
General of the army, it appears that twenty-two offi-
cers and non-commissioned officers were killed and
thirty wounded. Among the former was Major
McMahon and among the latter Lieutenant Darke.
Captain Gibson, who commanded the fort, be-.
haved with great gallantry and received the thanks
of the commander-in-chief, as did every officer and
soldier of the garrison and the escort who were
engaged in that most gallant and successful defense.
Immediately after the enemy had retreated it was
ascertained that their loss had been very heavy, but
the full extent of it was not known until it was
disclosed at the Treaty of Greene Ville. References
were made to that battle by several of the Chiefs
in council, from which it was manifest that they
had not even then ceased to mourn the distressing
losses sustained on that occasion. Having made the
attack with a determination to carry the fort or
perish in the attempt, they exposed their persons in
an unusual degree, and, of course, a large number
of the bravest of the Chiefs and warriors perished
before they abandoned the enterprise. From the
facts afterwards communicated, it was satisfac-
torily ascertained that there were a considerable
number of British soldiers and Detroit militia en-
gaged with the savages on that occasion.
A few days previous to that affair the General
had sent out three small parties of friendly Chicka-
saw and Choctaw Indians to take prisoners for the
purpose of obtaining information. One of these
parties returned to Greene Ville and reported that
they had fallen in with a large body of Indians at
Girtytown (St. Marys, Ohio), near the crossing of
the St. Marys river, on the evening of the 27th of
78
June. They were apparently bending their course
towards Chillicothe on the Miami. There were a
great many white men with them. The other two
parties followed the trail of the hostile Indians and
were in sight when the assault on the post com-
menced. They affirm, one and all, that there were
a large number of armed white men with painted
faces whom they frequently heard conversing in
English and encouraging the Indians to persevere,
and that there were also three British officers
dressed in scarlet who appeared to be men of dis-
tinction from the great attention and respect which
were paid them. These persons kept at a distance
in the rear of the assailants. Another strong cor-
roborating proof that there were British soldiers
and militia in the assault is that a number of ounce
balls and buck shot were found lodging in the
blockhouses and stockades of the fort and that others
were picked up on the ground which had been fired
from such a distance as not to have momentum
sufficient to enter the logs. It was supposed that
the British who were engaged in the attack expected
to find the artillery that was lost on the fatal 4th
of November which had been hidden in the ground
and covered with logs by the Indians in the vicinity
of the battlefield. This inference was supported by
the fact that during the conflict they were seen
turning over the logs and examining different places
in the neighborhood as if searching for something.
There were many reasons for believing that they
depended on that artillery to aid in the reduction
of the fort. But fortunately most of it had
previously been found by its legitimate owners and
was then employed in its defense. It will be re-
membered that St. Clair, after his awful defeat, was
compelled to abandon his artillery. General Wayne
succeeded in recovering all those pieces except one,
which could not be found and which was accidentally
discovered nearly forty years afterward by some
boys who were hunting rabbits on the site where it
had been concealed. It eventually passed into the
19
hands of an artillery company. in Cincinnati, Ohio,
who may probably still retain it. |
The Indians were very adroit in their strategems
and the utmost caution was requisite in a conflict
with them. Captain Shaylor was in command of
the little garrison at Fort Jefferson immediately
after this Indian retreat from their signal defeat
at Fort Recovery. As no Indians were around and
it would take some time to reorganize new war par-
ties, all the garrisons felt much at their ease. Cap-
tain Shaylor, as the Indians well knew, was very
fond of hunting. One pleasant summer morning the
Captain heard the gobble of a flock of turkeys in —
the woods at a little distance from the fort. Call-
ing his son, they eagerly sallied forth to shoot some
game for dinner. They fell into an ambuscade.
His son fell, mortally wounded. The gobble of the
turkeys was but a decoy of Indians. The Captain
turned and fled to the garrison. The Indians, with
loud yells, pursued, hoping either to capture him
or to enter the gates at his heels. They were, how-
ever, disappointed. He rushed in through with an
arrow quivering in his back and the gates were im-
mediately closed after him.
General Wayne, as before noted, left Greene Ville
July 28, 1794. We have two different accounts as
to the direction which he pursued in leaving Greene
Ville. One is from the pen of Judge Wharry in his
pioneer notes on Darke county nearly fifty years
ago. He was a lifelong citizen of Greenville and
among its first surveyors. He says, “Wayne moved
northeast from Fort Greene Ville and camped on
Stillwater river the first night, in the vicinity of
Beamsville. Leaving still a strong garrison at Fort
Greene Ville, took up his line of march with care,
circumspection and no undue haste to the north-
ward, taking the route toward Loramie and St.
Marys. The second night after leaving, his forces
were encamped in the southeastern part of what
is now Patterson township. Here it is said that
about midnight an Indian spy crawled into Wayne's
camp and approached a tent in which a dim light
80
was burning and here discovered General Wayne
seated by a stand looking over notes and papers.
He immediately returned to the Indian encamp-
ment on Swamp creek, two or three miles off, which
was still in council, and made the report that the
White Chief never sleeps.
It has been said that this was the time and place
which Little Turtle suggested for a night attack
on General Wayne, but was opposed by nearly all
of the other Chiefs in council. And perhaps the
most favorable opportunity was thus permitted to
pass by.
The other statement in regard to the route from
which Wayne emerged from Fort Greene Ville in
his northward campaign is from the pen of Lieu-
tenant Boyer, who was with the army. In his Jour-
nal he says, “The army marched twelve miles on
July 28th on the St. Clair trail and encamped on the
Stillwater,” and that “the second night they en-
camped one mile beyond Fort Recovery.” We here
leave the reader to decide for himself which of these
routes is correct. However, the next place that we
hear of Wayne is at Girtiestown, or the St. Marys,
where he stopped two days for the building of Fort
Adams on the bank of that stream.
Slocum, in his “History of the Ohio Country,”
page 109, says, “It was necessary to make a road
through the great forests composed of great trees
of oak, beech and maple which were larger and
more numerous as the army advanced, and that
the deep Beaver swamp had to be bridged with
infinite labor. In this building of Fort Adams,
General Wayne was caught under a falling tree
while urging more haste upon the choppers of logs
for the blockhouses and palisades. This accident
nearly put an end to his existence, but his indomit-
able will power forced him and his army forward
without delay and against all obstacles.”
On August 8, 1794, the army arrived at its camp,
Grand Auglaize (junction of the Auglaize river with
the Maumee, site of the present city of Defiance,
Ohio), at half past ten o’clock in the morning.
81
Here Wayne and his army were delighted with the
beauty and fertility of the region. Here were all
kinds of vegetables in abundance, four or five miles
of corn fields and at least a thousand acres of corn
around the town. Here was the confluence of three
rivers, the Auglaize, Tiffin and Maumee. It was
naturally a great gathering place for the various
tribes. It seems that the preceding evening the
towns and villages had been abandoned in much
haste, as marks of apparent surprise and precipita-
tion convinced everybody that the approach of the
legion was not discovered until a few hours before
its arrival, when the fact was communicated by
Newman, who had deserted from the army at St.
Marys. It was manifest that the defection of that
villain enabled the Indians to save their persons
by a rapid flight, leaving all of their property to
fall into the hands of federal forces. Here as well
as elsewhere along the rivers, the British had en-
couraged the women of the savages to cultivate
corn and vegetables to relieve as much as possible
the demands of the savages on the British food
supplies. Here Wayne congratulated himself upon
his suecess in gaining possession of the Grand Em-
porium of the hostile Indians of the west without
the loss of blood. The first duty of the General,
after taking possession of the country, was to erect
a strong stockade fort with four blockhouses by
way of bastions at the confluence of the rivers,
which he named Fort Defiance.
The army remained at the mouth of the Auglaize
river about one week. It had been ascertained by
the most recent intelligence that the enemy were
collected in great force and that they had been
joined by the Detroit militia and a portion of the
regular army and that they had selected for the
contest an elevated plain above the foot of the
rapids on the left bank of the river over which a
tornado had recently passed and covered the ground
with fallen timber, by which it was rendered un-
favorable for the action of the cavalry.
This information, unpleasant as it was, did not
82
excite any serious apprehension, or in the least de-
gree cool the spirit and ardor of the troops. On the
contrary, among the officers and privates, both of the
legion and mounted volunteers, there was but one as-
piration heard and that was to meet the enemy.
Captain William Wells, the sagacious and intrepid
warrior of the woods led his party within so short a
distance of the British works as to ascertain that the
Indians were encamped under their protection. He
took one or two prisoners and made a bold though
unsuccessful attempt on a camp of warriors in the
night, in which he was wounded. Soon after his re-
turn the army moved slowly and cautiously down the
left bank of the Maumee river.
On the 13th of August, true to the spirit of peace
advised by Washington, General Wayne sent Chris-
tian Miller, who had been naturalized, among the
Shawnees as a special messenger to offer terms of
friendship. Impatient of delay he moved forward
and on the 16th met Miller on his return with the
message that if the Americans would wait ten days
at Grand Glaize (Fort Defiance) they, the Indians,
would decide for peace or war.
It seems that at this council, in reply to Miller on
the proposition of peace or war, Little Turtle earn-
estly counseled peace. In a brief but energetic
speech he said:
“We have beaten the enemy twice under separate
Commanders. We cannot expect the same good for-
tune always to attend us. The Americans are now
led by a Chief who never sleeps; the night and the
day are alike to him and during all the time that he
has been marching upon our village notwithstanding
the watchfulness of our young men we have never
been able to surprise him. Think well of it. There
iS something whispers to me, it would be prudent to
listen to his offers of peace’’.
Blue Jacket was in favor of battle, but Little
Turtle, who plainly foresaw the final trend of events
by this time, was in favor of making peace.
Being reproached for cowardice which was for-
eign to his nature, he laid aside resentment and took
83
part in the battle on the morrow. The result of the
battle proved his sagacity and wisdom.
Miller stated that the Indians were all dressed and
painted for war, that war parties were continually
coming in and were received with great enthusiasm,
and it was his opinion that the message was merely
a ruse by which the Indians hoped to gain a little
more time to muster their forces.
At six o’clock on the morning of the 20th of Au-
gust, General Wayne advanced from Fort Deposit
and took a. position a few miles farther down the
river on a long ridge called Presque Isle, and about
eight o’clock on the morning of the 20th moved for- _
ward to attack the Indians, who were encamped at:
the fallen timbers. |
The British post had been occupied by a garrison
sent from Detroit the previous spring. There could
be no misapprehension of the motives which led
to this occupation, taking place as it did eleven years
after the country had been ceded to the United
States, and at a time too when the angry and pro-
tracted negotiations of several years relating to it
was supposed to be about terminating in an open
rupture. The Indians were all decidedly in favor
of the British. With the jealousy natural to weak-
ness, they were always prone to array themselves
against the power which most directly pressed upon
their destinies and most likely to affect them injur-
iously. The British were fully aware of this feeling
which their agents were zealously active to excite
and foster. They saw in it the means of crippling a
young rival who was stretching out into the west
with giant strides, trampling down the forest and
introducing christianity and civilization. The coun-
try had been ceded by 4a treaty still in force, but new
negotiations were then in progress under the in-
fluence of several disastrous defeats and as the In-
dians demanded an independent dominion over the
country in dispute the British government might ex-
pect that a surrender so desirable to them would at
last be granted. A proposition of a similar char-
acter was made by the same government towards the
84
close of the second war with Great Britain. The
entire independence of the Indians, occupying a wide
belt on our northwestern frontiers, was formally and
seriously demanded as one of the conditions of peace.
As long as the formidable coalition of tribes which
General Wayne found in arms should continue united
and hostile it was evident that the British preten-
tions and hopes would remain. It was, therefore, of
great importance with General Wayne and with his
country that his present steps should be taken with
the utmost prudence.
A new defeat like that which had terminated al-
most every previous campaign commencing with the
colonial period about the middle of the eighteenth
century would have proved not only destructive to
his army so far advanced in the wilderness, but prob-
ably decided the British to openly espouse the
cause of the Indians.
General Wayne, in the present case, could feet no
assurance that this cause would not be sustained by
such co-operation as the fort and garrison could
afford. Indeed, the positions of the Indians under
the walls of the fort rendered it probable that such
a course had been determined on. General Wayne
had about three thousand men under his command,
and the Indians are computed to have been equally
numerous. This is not improbable as the hostile
league embraced the whole northwestern frontier.
As he approached the position of the enemy, he sent
forward a battalion of mounted riflemen, which was
ordered, in case of attack, to make a retreat in
feigned confusion in order to draw the Indians on
more disadvantageous ground. As was anticipated,
this advance soon met the enemy and being fired on
fell back and was warmly pursued towards the main
body. The morning was rainy and the drums could
not communicate the concerted signals with sufficient
distinctness. A plan of turning the right flank of the
Indians was not therefore fulfilled, but the victory
was complete. The whole Indian line, after a severe
contest, giving way and flying in disorder. About
one hundred savages were killed. This horde of
85
savages, with their allies, abandoned themselves to
flight and dispersed with terror and dismay, leaving
our victorious army in full and quiet possession of
the field of battle, which terminated under the in-
fluence of the guns of the British garrison.
During the action, and subsequently while General
Wayne remained in the vicinity of the British, there
did not appear to be any intercourse between the
garrison and the savages.
The gates were kept shut against them, and their
rout and slaughter were witnessed from the walls
with apparent unconcern and without offering any
interposition or assistance. |
After the battle General Wayne devastated all of
the fields and burned all of the dwellings around the
fort; some of them immediately under the walls.
The house of Colonel McKee, an Indian trader, who
was supposed to have exercised great influence over
the Indians, was reduced to ashes in the general con-
flagration.
“It is too important to omit, says Mr. Mann Butler
in his “History of Kentucky”, “That General Wayne
_ had positive authority from President Washington
to attack and demolish the British fort of Miami” ;
but on reconnoitering it closely and discovering its
strength, added to his own weakness in artillery, the
General with a prudence not always accorded him,
most judiciously declined an attack. In this daring
reconnoiter the General was near falling a victim to
his gallantry. He had rode within eighty yards of
the fort, accompanied with his Lieutenant William
H. Harrison, and within point blank shot of his
guns, when a considerable disturbance was _ per-
ceived on the platform of the parapet. The intelli-
gence of a deserter the next day explained the whole
affair. It appeared that a Captain of marines, who
happened to be in the garrison when General Wayne
| made his approach resented it so highly that he im-
' mediately seized a port fire and was going to apply
| ittothe gun. At this moment Major Campbell drew
| his sword and threatened to cut the Captain down in-
| stantly if he did not desist. He then ordered him ar-
86
rested. This high minded forbearance in all proba-
bility saved the life of General Wayne with his suite
and possibly the peace of the United States.
Wayne in his report says, “The Americans
remained three days and nights on the banks of the
Maumee in front of the field of battle, during which
time all the houses and cornfields were consumed
and destroyed for a considerable distance, both above
and below Fort Miami, as well as within pistol shot
of that garrison, who were compelled to remain
tacit?’
Spectators to this general devastation and con-
flagration among which were the houses, stores and
property of Colonel McKee, the British Indian agent,
and principle stimulator of the war now existing be-
tween the United States and the savages.
Major William Campbell, of the British 24th Regi-
ment, who was commanding officer of Fort Miami,
early addressed a note to General Wayne protesting
against his near approach to a post belonging to his
Majesty, the King of Great Britain, occupied by his
Majesty’s troops, declaring that he knew of no war
existing between Great Britain and America. This
gave occasion for two sharp letters from General
Wayne, ordering the Major to get out of American
territory with his command, Wayne, knowing of
course, that an officer must obey only orders of his
commanding officer, but he chafed under this re- —
straint and reported to the Secretary of War regard-
ing Major Campbell’s third courtions, but firm letter
that, the only notice taken of this letter was by im-
mediately setting fire to and destroying everything
within view of the fort, and even under the muzzles
of his guns. Had Mr. Campbell carried his threats
into execution, it is more than probable, that he
would have experienced a storm.
After the victory of fallen timbers, by General
Wayne, the army returned to Fort Defiance on the
27th, having laid waste two villages and cornfields
on both sides of the Maumee, for at least fifty miles.
September the 14th the legion moved on to the
Miami villages, where the long contemplated fort
87
was constructed, and on October 22d, 1794, (exactly
four years after Harmar’s defeat) placed under com-
mand of Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck, who after
firing fifteen rounds of cannon, gave the name which
the city now bears of Fort Wayne. Colonel Ham-
tramck was a small Canadian Frenchman, who had
been many years in the American service and always
having proved himself patriotic, capable and meri-
torious had been advanced accordingly. The In-
dians were utterly disheartened by their great de-
feat and considered themselves very dishonorably
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, AS IT APPEARED IN 17914
treated by the British officers, who had spurred
them on in the battle and then had abandoned them
and were eager for peace.
This campaign accomplished its intended object.
The Indians were thoroughly humbled and subdued,
their houses were destroyed, their country ravaged,
their supplies consumed.
It was the special object of General Wayne to in-
flict such terrible chastisement upon the Indians as
to compel them to bury the tomahawk and not to
dare take it up again. He, therefore, sent out his
cavalry and made utterly waste the whole valley of
88
the Maumee for a distance of fifty miles. The wo-
men and children fled with terror to the woods.
Every village was laid in ashes, orchards were cut
down, the harvests, corn, potatoes and other veget-
ables with which the rich fields luxuriantly abound-
ed, were destroyed. Nothing was left. Cold winter
“was approaching and the homeless families, men,
women and children, were doomed to hopeless desti-
tution, misery and death. No imagination can prob-
ably exaggerate the woes which ensued. Such is war.
“War,” exclaimed Napoleon in anguish, as he wit-
nessed its horrors, “Is the science of barbarians.”
“War,” says General Sherman, “Is cruelty, you
cannot refine it.”
They no longer cherished any hope of being able
to check the advance of the white man. In this state
of extreme suffering, they were anxious for such
terms as the conquerer might dictate.
On the 28th of October, having achieved the ob-
jects of the campaign, General Wayne started on his
return with the main body of his regulars for Fort
Greene Ville, where in the following year, himself
and Little Turtle, rendered themselves as conspic-
uous in statesmanship and diplomacy as in war, by
a treaty, which immortalized both one for the white
man and the other for the red man.
Little Turtle was one of the greatest Indian Chiefs
of all time, as a warrior, statesman, diplomat and
orator, he even excelled Tecumseh, whose ambition,
like that of Napoleon, ruined him forever.
The remark made by LaSalle, two hundred years
ago, “That the Miamis were the most civilized of
all Indian Nations, neat of dress, splendid of bear-
ing, haughty of manner, holding all other tribes as
inferiors.”’
Of all the Indian tribes of America the Miamis
approached nearest to the ideal of an American abor-
igine than all others. Little Turtle, in the final cli-
max, as he alone stood amidst the downfall of his
race, the greatest in war and the greatest in peace.
Ne
LIGHTING THE COUNCIL FIRE.
Early in January, 1795, movements were made for
the assembling of a general Council of the Indian
tribes of the Old Northwest, for the purpose of form-
ulating a treaty of peace and friendship between
said tribes and the victorious Americans. The ren-
dezvous was to be at Wayne’s headquarters, which
% BOULDER MEMORIAL
With Bronze Tablet, placed by the GreeneVille Historical Society,
August 3, 1906
had been established at Fort Greene Ville since the
fall of 1793. Here in this frontier army post with
its substantial log buildings, its shops, warehouses
and commodious Council house enclosed by a for-
midable rampart of pickets, the Indian Chiefs and
89
90
warriors were assured of a cordial welcome with
guaranty of safe conduct while on the way. To the
savage mind this well built fort with its strong de-
tachment of hardened and disciplined troops, its
large supplies of provisions and its roads leading to
other posts in the chain of American wilderness de-
fences stood as the embodiment of Civilization and
organized government. It was easy for the savage
mind to look from this place to the source of power
in the East, to which it was directly linked, and to
read the handwriting on the wall of destiny. Wayne
exercised shrewd diplomacy in inviting the tribes
to this post and expressed desire that the Great
Spirit would incline their hearts and words to peace.
After the battle on the Maumee Little Turtle earn-
estly desired peace and used his influence to get his
people to attend the proposed Council at Greene
Ville. His earlier victories over the poorly organized
troops of LaBalm, Harmar and St. Clair, had not
blinded him to the fact of the growing power and
prestige of the Whites and the precarious position
of the scattered tribes. Fully realizing that his
power was broken he now urged the Indians to make
peace with the “Chief Who Never Sleeps’, and,
although he stoutly contended for the claims of his
nation and reluctantly signed the articles of peace he
remained faithful and passive, and continued to
counsel peace with his tribesmen to the end of his
career.
Wayne anticipated a large response on the part of
the aborigines and early made preparation for their
coming by laying in large supplies of clothing, food,
and other articles suitable for presents, as he knew
the fondness of the Savage mind for such things.
Early in June, 1795, the Indians began to collect
at Greene Ville, apparently without concerted action,
and gave notice as they arrived that they had come
to negotiate peace. On the 16th, a number of Dela-
wares, Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and Eel River
Chiefs having arrived, Wayne caused them to be
assembled and met them in general Council for the
HE
first time. After each had received and puffed the
pipe of peace the American General said:
“T have cleared the ground of all brush and rub-
bish, and opened roads to the east, to the west, to the
north, and to the south, that all nations may come
in safety and ease to meet me. The ground on which
the Council House stands is unstained with blood and
ig as pure as the heart of General Washington, the
Great Chief of America, and of his great Council, as
pure as my heart, which wishes for nothing so much
as peace and brotherly love. I have this day kindled
the Council fire of the United States; we will now |
cover it up and keep it alive until the remainder of
the different tribes assemble, and form a full meet-
ing and representation. I now deliver to each tribe
present a string of white wampum to serve as record
of the friendship that is this day commenced be-
tween us.
“The heavens are high, the woods are open, we
will rest in peace. In the meantime, we will have a
little refreshments to wash the dust from our
throats. We will on this happy occasion be merry,
but without passing the bounds of temperance and
sobriety. We will now cover up the Council fire and
keep it alive until the remainder of the different
tribes assemble and form a full meeting and repre-
sentation.”’
The next day New Corn, one of the old Chiefs of
the Pottawattomies, with several warriors arrived.
He said that they had come from Lake Michigan,
and that after the treaty was over they would ex-
change their old medals for those of General Wash-
ington. They wanted peace.
Buckonghelas, with a party of Delawares, came
soon afterward, and also Asimethe, with another
party of Pottawattomies, who were received at the
Council House.
The Delaware King told Wayne, that his fore-
fathers used soft cloth to dry up their tears, but
that they used wampum, and hoped that its influ-
- ence would do away with all past misfortune.
The Pottawattomie Chief said, that they were
92
all there, all the remainder being dead. As a proof
of their good wishes they had brought Wayne the
only two prisoners, who were in their possessions.
General Wayne welcomed them to Greene Ville,
told them that the great Council fire had been kind-
led and the pipe of peace had been smoked. Also
that when the Wyandots from Sandusky and De-
troit, and the tribes in that quarter would arrive,
fresh fuel would be added to the fire and business
would be postponed until then. In the meantime he
would give them something which would make their
hearts glad and also distribute some wampum.
The celebrated Little Turtle, Chief of the Miamis,
arrived on the 238d of June, with a full retinue of
seventy-three Miami and Eel River Indians, together
with twelve Weas and Piankishaws and ten Kicka-
poos and Kaskaskias. A total of ninety-five.
On the 25th of June General Wayne told them the
arrangements he had made for their comfort during
the Council. The exterior redoubts were given up
to accomodate the different nations with Council
Houses. He desired them to retire to their quarters
like his own men, at the firing of the evening gun.
If any of his foolish young men were found troubling
their quarters, he wished the Indians to tie them and
send them to him to be dealt with according to the
circumstances.
He humored the Indians by telling them, that
General Washington and his great Council had sent
them large presents, which he soon expected, and
their friends the Quakers had also sent them mes-
sages and small presents.
Bad Bird, a Chippewa Chief, thought that was all
right and very good. Little Turtle made a short
speech on the 30th of June to the Chippewas, and
said that when brothers meet they always exper-
ience pleasure, and as it was a little cool, he hoped
that they would get some drink and that they ex-
pected to be treated as warriors. He wanted some
fire water and would like to have some mutton and
pork occasionally.
New Corn was most happy to be in accord with
93
the sentiments of Little Turtle, but their hearts were
sorry and it grieved them to have seen the graves
of their brothers, who fell at Fort Recovery, a few
months previous.
The Sun, Chief of the Pottawattomies, complained
of the allowance of food. He said that they ate in
the morning and became hungry at night; the days
were long, and they had nothing to do; they became
weary and wished for home.
Frequent arrivals of large numbers continued.
On the 3d of July, all were called together, and the
General gave them their first lesson in American
patriotism. He explained to them why all the States
of the American union celebrated the 4th of July
each year, adding: “Tomorrow we shall for the
twentieth time salute the return of this happy anni-
versary, rendered still more dear by the brotherly
union of the Americans and Red people. Tomorrow
all the people within these lines will rejoice, you, my
brothers, shall also rejoice in your respective en-
campments. I call you together to explain these
matters to you, do not, therefore, be alarmed at the
report of our big guns, they will do you no harm,
they will be the harbingers of peace and gladness,
and their roar will ascend into the heavens. The
flag of the United States and the colors of this Le-
gion shall be given to the wind to be fanned by its
gentlest breeze in honor of the birthday of Ameri-
ean freedom.
“I will now show you our colors that you may
know them tomorrow. Formerly, they were dis-
played as ensigns of war and battle, now they will
be exhibited as emblems of peace and happiness.
“This eagle which you now see, holds close his
bunch of arrows, whilst he seems to stretch forth as
amore valuable offering the inestimable branch of
peace. The Great Spirit seems disposed to incline
us all to repose for the future under its grateful
shade and wisely enjoy the blessings which attend
i’
The twentieth anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence was celebrated at Fort
94
Greene Ville in an elaborate and appropriate man-
ner. The spirit of ’76 was still surging in the veins
of all patriotic Americans and it is not surprising
that Wayne and many of his associates, who had
served during the trying days of the Revolution,
should make the occasion one long to be remembered,
by both the Indians and his own soldiers. The fir-
ing of the ready salute—probably of fifteen guns—
the raising of flags, the martial music and the fiery
oration all tended to heighten the effect of the cele-
bration. Fortunately we have record of two notable
features of that day’s program—one a poem written
and recited by an officer, the other, an oration, deliv-
ered by a Baptist missionary. The poem was com-
posed by Dr. Joseph Strong, a youthful soldier and
surgeon, and was kept in the possession of his son,
William Y. Strong, esq., of Chillicothe, Ohio, who, it
seems had it published in the first volume of the
American Pioneer in later years. We take pleasure
in reproducing the poem herewith:
“In leagues of love we now unite
Around the bank of peaceful light
And hail the joy clad day.
No more shall ruthless foes pervade
The vast domain of Western shade
Or war like music play.
“The Indian tomahawk and knife
Which mirthful mocked imploring life
Lie buried in the ground.
The advance of war shall be forgot
And every dark and murderous spot
No more in Councils found.
“The bloody belt betokening war
Shall be consumed, and, smoking far,
Will purify the ground.
Where torturing arts of savage power
Of past time through the midnight hovr
O’er bleeding victims bound.
“The soothing lyre with warbling strain
Shall play where battles shook the plain
And tune her songs of peace.
Temples will rise where warriors fell
And heavenly worship quick prevail
To guide the pagan race.
“To these vast wilds will science roam
And raise her ever lighted dome
To guild the shady West.
The savage tribes her lamps shall see
And all their ancient darkness flee
Thus in her light be blessed.
“The future muse will paint this clime
The noblest region of its time
In beauteous grandeur spread.
The prairies with their myriad flowers
In graves far off to distant shores
O’er nature’s richest bed.
“Here liberty at rest retires
With altar’s pure and hallowed fires
Whose flame will last with time
Where all the oppressed can find repose
Where virtue want nor sorrow knows
In all this heaven blest clime.”
Another interesting feature of the extensive and
varied program given on this memorable Fourth of
July was an oration delivered by Rev. Morgan John
Rhys (or Rhees), who is known as “The Welsh Bap-
tist Hero of Civil and Religious Liberty of the Eigh-
teenth Century.” It seems that Rev. Rhys, a Welsh-
man by birth, who had lately come to America, had
been sent out as a missionary among the American
heathen and frontier settlements of the United
States by the “Missionary Society of Philadelphia’’;
whose members were “impelled by motives of relig-
ion and benevolence to attempt the propogation of
Christian and civil knowledge among the aborigines
of America’. This Society availed itself of the op-
96
portunity presented by “the easy access which may
be had at present to the different tribes by means
of government establishments in various parts of
their territory, and their tranquil state and the
friendly disposition of some of their Chiefs.”
In his oration, Rev. Rhys said, in part, the follow-
ing: “Illustrious Americans—Noble Patriots, you
commemorate a glorious day—the birthday of free-
dom in the New World. Yes, Columbia, thou art
free. The twentieth year of thy independence com-
mences this day. Thou hast taken the lead in re-
generating the world. Look back, look forward,
think of the past, anticipate the future and behold
with astonishment the transactions of the present
time! The globe revolves on the axis of Liberty ; the
new world has put the old in motion; the light of
truth, running rapid like lightning, flashes convic-
tion in the heart of every Civilized nation, Yes, the
thunder of American remonstrance has fallen so
heavy on the head of the tyrant that other nations,
encouraged by her example, will extripate all des-
pots from the earth.
“Citizens of United States: Whilst you commem-
orate a glorious resolution, call to mind your first
principles of action, never forget them nor those who
assisted you to put your principles in practice. May
the Curse of Meroz (Judges V) never fall upon
America for not joining the heralds of freedom,
whilst combatting the tyrants of Europe.
“Citizens of America: Guard with jealousy the
Temple of Liberty ; protect her altars from being pol-
luted with the offerings of force and fraud.
“Citizens and Soldiers of America—Sons of Lib-
erty: It is you I address, banish from your land
the remains of slavery. Be consistent with your
Congressional declaration of rights and you will be
happy. Remember, there never was nor will be a
period when justice should not be done. Do what
is Just and leave the event with God. Justice is the
pillar that upholds the whole fabric of human soci-
ety, and mercy is the genial ray which cheers and
warms the habitations of man. The perfection of
97
our social character consists in tempering the two
with one another; in holding that middle course
which admits of our being just without being rigid,
and allows us to be generous without being unjust.
May all the citizens of America be found in the per-
formance of such social virtues as will secure them
peace and happiness in this world and in the world
to ache life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our
Lord.”
On Sunday, July 5th, Rev. Rhys delivered a ser-
mon in the Council House at Fort Greene Ville be-
fore Wayne and the officers of the American army.
The title of this sermon was ‘‘The Altar of Peace’’,
and the text was from Judges 6:24, “Then Gideon
built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Je-
hovah-Shalom (The Lord give peace)’, in which he
exalted the principles of Justice and peace and ex-
horted the Americans to be true to their early proc-
lamation of freedom and equality.
Many of the interesting details in reference to the
campaigns of St. Clair and Wayne and the Treaty
of Greene Ville have never been published and many
valuable articles published in local papers and mag-
azines have been lost or scattered. It is with great
pleasure, therefore, that we are able to reproduce
herewith, a recently discovered manuscript now in
possession of Hon. C. M. Burton, who secured it with
many other valuable papers from a descendant of
the immmediate actors living in Canada, and placed
it in the Burton Library on Brainard Street, Detroit,
Mich. This was written by one John Askin, Jr., a
man of Irish descent with decided English sympa-
thies. He had been engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness in Detroit for many years and had an extensive
trade with the Indians, thereby, no doubt, becoming
acquainted with a large number of them and gaining
their confidence. About the time that the English
evacuated Detroit he moved across the river into
Canada where he died in old age, leaving numerous
business letters and valuable manuscripts in the
hands of his descendants—part of which were re-
‘cently secured by the Canadian government and
taken to Ottawa. ? ;
98
It seems that John Askin, Sr., had secured a
number of deeds on the American side from the
Chippewa Indians, which he desired to have recog-
nized by the American government at the time of
the treaty. In order to accomplish this purpose he
sent his son, John Askin, Jr., along with a band of
Chippewa Indians, enroute to the Council at Fort
Greene Ville, ostensibly as an interpreter, but, in
reality, in the interest of these deeds. The letter,
which is largely self explanatory, is as follows:
From M. S. Burton, v. 3, p. 36-37.
Detroit, August 19th, 1795.
Colonel England, 24th Regiment,
Commandant of Detroit and its Dependencies.
Sir:
Being induced, both from duty and inclination, I
take the liberty of giving you an account of my voy-
age to Fort Greene Ville, with what came to my
knowledge while I resided there; it will, I fear, be
rather long, but lest the parts I might leave out
would be those you wished to be acquainted with, I
have thought it advisable to insert in it everything
that appeared to me any way material.
It is as follows:
Several Indian Chiefs of the Chippewa and Otta-
wa Nation with whom I was well acquainted urged
me much to accompany them to the Council at
Greene Ville, assigning for their reasons, that as the
business they were going on was of great importance
to them they stood in need of a faithful Interpreter
and friend.
After obtaining my Father’s concurrence I left
(Detroit) on the 2d of July, and when I reached
Fort Defiance it was the 11th. By this time, the
Indians with me were twenty-seven in number, also
a Mr. Beaubien and a Mr. Bouffet, who had joined
the Indians on the route.
I had a cool reception from Major Hunt, who com-
manded there, but of this I was aware before my de-
parture. Mr. McDougal having taken the lead, who
declared he would make known to the Americans
my conduct during the troubles—from this first
39
Fort I was inclined to return (to Detroit), but Major
Hunt finding if I did that the Indians would follow
me, insisted on my proceeding.
Blue Jacket, an Indian Chief, who had been sent
to bring forward Indians to Council, joined us here
and proceeded with us; this night, being the 14th,
Mr. McDougal overtook us. It was the 19th before
we reached Fort Adams, the 20th we got to Fort
Recovery and the 21st to Fort Greene Ville. Soon
after our arrival a Major of Dragoons, said General
Wayne wished to see us. We proceeded to the Coun-
cil House, which is situated in the Fort. Here Gen- |
eral Wayne received us and shook hands with all the
Indians. Omissas, a Chippewa Chief, who had been
chosen to speak for the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and
his nation, asked me for a few Strings of Wampum
he had given me in charge and with them made the
following speech:
“Brothers: We, the Chippewas, looking over our
bundles, found your Strings of Wampum that had
been given us at Muskingum, and thought it time
to come and see you at the great Council Fire.”
General Wayne in return said:
“IT am extremely happy to see you and more so to
hear that you brought the Strings of Wampum, gave
you at Muskingum, you, Omissas, spoke like an hon-
est, sensible, and good hearted man, and I take you
again by the hand for your honesty.”
Omissas to General Wayne:
“Brothers: Should any one say that they advised
us to come to this Council or say they brought us to
this place, it’s false, we came of our own free will
and have brought this English man (meaning me)
with us to repeat to us what you say in Council, and
that we may be instructed with every thing that will
be said to us and not be so ignorant of this Council
as we were of that of Muskingum.”
Blue Jacket’s speech to General Wayne:
“Brothers: I am extremely sorry that I have not
been able to accomplish what I wished to have done
owing to the number of bad birds who were contin-
ually whispering in my Shawnee Chiefs ears, and
have prevented them from coming sooner, however,
100
I have a bit of Tobacco from them and they sent me
word they would come immediately, but I cannot
assure you they will.”
General Wayne’s answer:
“Brothers: I am sensible of the great Zeal and
wish you have come to serve the States and that you
have done.all in your power for them. I am well
persuaded that you met great numbers of bad birds,
who did all they could to prevent what you went
about.”
July 22. No Council.
July 23. As I was going to the Council I was told
by Mons Beaubien not to go, that the Centinel would
Stop me. The General’s aid de Camp told him so.
When I stopped the Indians stopped also and said
they would not go but on my telling them it was all
the same they could repeat to me at night what had
passed, they proceeded.
July 24. The Indians gave in their answer this
day with a white belt of Wampum as follows:
“Brothers: We know nothing of the Six Thou-
sand Dollars said to have been given the Indians at
Muskingum, but as for the Wyandotts, they perhaps
know of these dollars. They were accustomed to
horde up all they got on these occasions and never
let others know of it. The Wyandots were displeased
and begged leave to give their answer next day.”
July 25. This day General Wayne explained that
the six thousand dollars were given in goods, ete.
Then the Chippewas were satisfied with the Wyan-
dots and said it was true that they had received pres-
ents, but thought they were given them for having
buried the hatchet and not for Lands.
July 26. The Miamis spoke and said their Grand
Father had given them these lands and they were
told not to sell them nor give them away and of
course the Tribes who had given them at Muskin-
gum had no right to them, and several other words
to the same purpose.
July 27. The Indians were allowed to speak
among themselves.
July 28. I wrote to General Wayne for a pass to
101
return home (to Detroit) and received for answer,
to call next day.
July 29. Waited on General Warne he delivered
me a letter from Mrs. Askin, which he opened and
shewed me another asking if ‘i knew the hand writ-
ing? I said I did. It was my Father’s, he then pro-
ceeded to read its contents to me, and after he had
done reading, he said he looked upon me as a spy
and that I deserved death. I told him that I knew
of no spies in time of peace, he said it was true, but
he still had the power of sending me to a Fort in the
Woods, and immediately ordered a party of Light
Horse to take me to Fort Jefferson, he likewise or-
dered my papers to be examined and an officer took
out of them two Indian Deeds of Land given me in
charge by a gentleman here, which he said would be
returned, but as yet have not.
The Commanding Officer at Fort Jefferson had
orders not to let me speak to any one, but in his
presence, nor to write to any person except the Gen-
eral, to do him justice, he treated me with much civ-
ility.
July 380th and 31st. In confinement.
August 1. The Indians delivered a white belt of
Wampum, requesting I might be set at Liberty, the
General gave for answer that I should in two days,
however, the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth
elapsed but on the seventh the General wrote me a
note saying I was at liberty and in it invited me to
dine with him (which I did), on the eighth I got a
pass and set off and the fifteenth (of August) ar-
rived here (at Detroit).
As I was not at any of the Councils but the first,
I can only speak from the reports of the Indians and
others, who informed me that until I was some days
in confinement the Indians, who went out with me,
would neither consent to ratify the Muskingum
Treaty nor give up their claims to the disposal of
their lands, nor I am sure ever would, had I not been
confined and deprived of giving them advice, but
being intimidated by the threats of the General, say-
ing he would drive them back into the Sea if they
did not acquiesce in his demands, and seeing the
AVG
other Nations (from fear and persuasion of some of
our Canadian and English friends) agree, they at
last. did the same, prior to my being released.
The Treaty so far as I could learn was, that they
confirmed the Muskingum Treaty and added to it
all the lands situated on the South side of the (source
of the) Miamis River (and Fort Recovery). They
sold six miles square, near where Fort Miami is sit-
uated. Twelve miles square at and about (certain
different localities,) which were to be given up and
such small spots about them as the English had pur-
chased and that they should have that matter cleared
up, which they accordingly did next day and it was
then acknowledged to them that our Government
had not given over their lands.
It was reported, at my departure, that very soon
after a party of Americans were to come by land to
the spot purchased up the river of (Raisin) and take
post there, likewise at Sandusky, to Build a Fort.
I am with due respect,
Sir,
Your most obedient and very humble servant,
JOHN ASKIN, Jr.
From this letter it will be noticed that the confer-
ence preliminary to the Treaty was held in the
Council House, which was located within the enclos-
ure of the fort; that Fort Jefferson, which was the
most advanced post built and garrisoned by St.
Clair in October, 1791, some five miles south of
Greene Ville, was still maintained by Wayne as an
important link in the chain of posts reaching from
Fort Washington to Fort Wayne.
That Askin was employed by the British for some
mercenary purpose is suggested by the fact that on
his return to Detroit he made a report to Colonel
England, then the Commandant of that post, in
which he states that he would have advised the In-
dians not to have signed the treaty if he had not
been prevented from doing so. Wayne evidently
suspected his mission and treated him accordingly
in which matter he was advised by one Mr. McDou-
gal who overtook the Askin party at Fort Defiance
and accompanied them to Greene Ville.
Vi
THE TREATY OF GREENEVILLE.
“See again the smoke is curling
From the friendly calumet
And the Club of War is buried
And the star of slaughter set.”
—Anonymous.
GREENEVILLE TREATY PEACE PIPE
Now in Museum of Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society’s Museum, Columbus, Ohio.
At the preliminary conference of the Confeder-
ated Tribes held at Fort Greene Ville on January
24, 1795, it had been agreed that all their sachems
and war chiefs should meet Wayne at this frontier
post on or about June 15, to consult and conclude
a satisfactory peace. We have noticed that strag-
gling bands representing the various tribes have
been gathering and holding conferences prelimin-
ary to the great Council at which all are to meet
the distinguished representatives of the Fifteen
Fires.
On account of the remote situation of some of the
tribes and the obstacles encountered in traveling
through the primitive forest, coupled with the
intrigue of the British agents, the Indians kept ar-
riving in small parties from their homes on the
Wabash, the Maumee and the Great Lakes. Some
had met in former treaties and had fought the
Americans in more than one hot engagement; many
had helped to rout poor St. Clair and all had been
humiliated by the great “Chief who never sleeps.”
As they arrived Wayne received them cordially and
expressed pleasure at their voluntary expression of
103
104
sentiments of peace. When Chief New Corn ar-
rived he manifested grief on account of the graves
of his tribesmen who had been killed in their attack
on Fort Recovery the summer previous as he had
passed them on the way to the Council. Wayne re-
minded him that such grief was unmanly, and, in
order to make glad the hearts of the Chiefs and dry
their tears he gave each a sheep for his personal use
and some drink for themselves and their people,
suggesting at the same time that they all take a
glass together. He explained further to them that
the Americans had no pork and but few sheep which
were intended for the use of the sick and occasion-
ally, for the use of the officers. He promised them
that their sick should share with his own in the
comforts of the camp, and that he would divide
with the officers.
On the 15th of July, the Council fire, which had
been covered on the 16th day of June, was stirred
up and replenished and around its sacred embers
gathered, no doubt, a motley group of chiefs, scouts,
spies, interpreters, and officers, among whom might
probably be noticed the faces of Wayne and his
aides, Wm. H. Harrison and T. Lewis; the Quarter-
master General Jas.O’Hara; Major of Infantry, John
Mills; Lieutenant of Artillery, Geo. Cemeter; Chap-
lain, David Jones and Secretary DeButts; a number
of French Canadian interpreters including LaFon-
taine, Navarre, Eichambre, Beufert, Jacques Las-
selle, Grant Lasselle, H. Lasselle, M. Morans and
Sans Crainte, besides the famous frontier scouts,
Wm. Wells, Christopher Miller, Cabot Willson, Abra-
ham Williams and Isaac Zane. Among the Indian
faces might be detected Little Turtle and LeGris,
representing the Miamis; Blue Jacket and Black
Hoof, the Shawnees, Bukongehelas, Tetaboshke and
Peketelemund of the Delaware; Massas and Bad
Bird, the Chippewas; Augooshaway, the Ottawa;
New Corn, Sun and Asimethe, the Pottawattomies;
Keeahah, the Kickapoo; Reyntwoco, of the Six Na-
tions, and Tarke, or the Crane, the great keeper of
the Calumet of the Wyandots.
105
In the presence of this wonderful backwoods as-
sembly Wayne arose on the 15th of July and ad-
dressed the Council at length, explaining his powers
and urging the Treaty of Muskingum (Fort Har-
mar) as a suitable basis of lasting peace. By that
treaty the Indians signed in 1785, by the terms of
which they kept the country west of the Cuyahoga
river and south of the lakes to a line running west-
ward near the fortieth parallel as far as the head-
waters of the Great Miami river, retaining the privi-
lege of hunting and fishing to the Ohio river, and
giving the American certain trading posts with
small surrounding tracts.
Time was given for deliberation and on the 18th,
discussion followed relative to the validity and force
of the Treaty of Muskingum of which some of the
chiefs professed ignorance. Wayne endeavored to
impress the chiefs and warriors assembled with the
great importance of the interests at stake and with
the fact that they were now called upon to determine
questions which involved the happiness of both the
United States and the Indian nations represented,
after which he invoked the blessings of the Great
Spirit upon their deliberations.
About the year 1794, the Society of Friends be-
came concerned for the welfare of the Indians in
the Western Country as well as that of the frontier
settlers, who were liable to much suffering on ac-
count of the depredations of the Indians. Deeply
affected with the horrors attendant on the barbar-
ous raids against the pioneers, the Yearly Meeting
nominated a large committee with instructions to
endeavor to terminate these hostilities. In the same
year they sent a memorial to the President and
Congress recommending the adoption of such just
and pacific measures toward the various tribes as
might arrest the further shedding of blood and es-
tablish peace on a firm basis. A treaty was soon
afterward held at Sandusky, but nothing was effect-
ed there.
At the opening of the treaty at Fort Greene Ville,
General Wayne read the address of the Friends’
106
Yearly Meeting at Philadelphia, which they had for-
warded to the Indians in this Council together with
some presents. This letter was concluded in lan-
guage entirely calculated to allay those feelings of
bitterness which had been implanted deeply in their
minds on account of accumulated wrongs. Of this
letter General Wayne remarked to the Chiefs in
Council: ‘Younger brothers—I have received a
letter from your friends, the people called Quakers,
with a message to all Nations here assembled. The
Quakers are a people whom I much love and esteem
for their goodness of heart and sincere love of peace
with all nations.
“Listen then to their voices and let them sink deep
into your hearts (here the General read their ad-
dress and the invoice of their presents). Their
present, you see, is small, but, being designed with
the benevolent view of promoting the happiness and
peace of mankind, it becomes of important value.
They wish it to ke considered merely as a token of
regard for you and a testimony of their brotherly
affections and kind remembrance of you.”
On the 20th of July Wayne read to the warriors
assembled in Council the offer of peace sent to them
just before the battle of Fallen Timbers. He also
read and explained the Treaty of Fort Harmar and
pointed to a number of Chiefs who were present
and had signed both that treaty and the Treaty of
Fort McIntosh and asked them to consider seriously
what he had said with the view of making known
their thoughts at the next meeting.
On the 21st, the discussion was continued and sev-
eral prominent chiefs took part, being followed by
Little Turtle, who professed ignorance of the ces-
sion of lands along the Wabash and expressed sur-
prise that these lands had been ceded by the British
to the Americans when the former were beaten by
and made peace with the latter.
Perhaps the great climax of all the deliberations
was reached on Wednesday, July 22d, when the tall
and crafty Chief of the Miamis made a shrewd and
eloquent address before the great Council. Most of
107
our readers, perhaps, have read the pathetic speech
of Chief Logan deploring the unwarranted murder
of his brethren, but few of us have perused the
classic and masterful address delivered by Little
Turtle on this rare and inspiring occasion. Let us
imagine him on this day trigged out in the pictur-
esque and fantastic costume of the typical Indian
Chief with paint, beads and feathers, to heighten
the effect as he strides solemnly and majestically
forward to the center of the encircling Council.
Thoughts of the past power and prestige of his wan-
ing nation and the early victories over the advanc-
ing Americans throng his brain as he casts his
eagle eyes toward the blazing July sun and then
turns impressively to his large and picturesque audi-
ence. We may imagine him with a sweep of his
outstretched arm, describing the lands over which
his forefathers claimed dominion; with a handful of
earth, symbolizing the remaining tribal allotments;
with a few kernels rattled in a dry pod illustrat-
ing the decimated numbers of his people, and with
the down of a thistle or milkweed scattered to the
wind symbolizing the coming race. “I expect,” said
he, ‘‘that the lands on the Wabash and in this coun-
try belong to me and my people. I now take the
opportunity to inform my brethren of the United
States and others present that there are men of
sense and understanding among my people as well
as among theirs, and that these lands were disposed
of without our knowledge or consent.” ‘You have
pointed out,” he continued, ‘‘the boundary line be-
tween the Indian and the United States, but I now
take the liberty to inform you that that line cuts off
from the Indians a large portion of country which
has been enjoyed by my forefathers from time im-
memorial without molestation or dispute.” “The
prints of my ancestors’ houses are everywhere to be
seen in this portion. I was a little astonished at
hearing you and my brethren who were present,
telling each other what business you had transacted
together at Muskingum concerning this country. It
is well known by all my brothers present that my
108
forefathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; from
thence he extended his lines to the headwaters of
the Scioto; from thence to its mouth; from thence
down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash and
from thence to Lake Michigan.
“At this place I first saw my elder brothers, the
Shawnees. I have now informed you of the boun-
daries of the Miami nation where the Great Spirit
placed my forefathers a long time ago, and charged
him not to sell or part with his lands, but to pre-
serve them for his posterity.
“This charge has been handed down to me_ I was
much surprised that my brothers differed so much
from me on this subject; for their conduct would
lead me to suppose that the Great Spirit and their
forefathers had not given them the same charge that
was given to me, but on the contrary had directed
them to sell their lands to any who wore a:hat as
soon as he should ask it of them.”
What a great Indian empire was here described
by the sagacious Little Turtle, which, without a
doubt originally belonged to the Miamis. It includ-
ed the present state of Indiana, part of southern
Michigan and the western half of Ohio and a portion
of northeastern I]linois.
A number of other tribes and bands of Indians
inhabited this country it is true, but they were mostly
tribes of near kinship, and all of them belonged to
this great Miami Confederacy, where the capital or
general headquarters was at the junction of the St.
Marys and St. Joseph rivers, now Fort Wayne.
This was the abode of the principal chiefs of the
confederate tribes and their reluctance in yielding
its possession to the government of the United States
was graphically shown in the conduct of Little Tur-
tle, who was born within twenty miles of this place.
In this contest at Greene Ville there met two diplo-
mats, General Wayne, on the part of the United
States, and Little Turtle, on behalf of the Indian
confederacy, who would have been enabled to cope
with the most sagacious State Minister of an Euro-
pean Court.
109
The time occupied would have been somewhat
abridged had it not been for the obstacles interposed
by Little Turtle, the master spirit on the part of the
Indians, whose chief point was to retain partial if
not full possession of his glorious gate at Fort
Wayne, through which all of the good words had to
pass from north to south and from east to west.
The other chiefs, many of whom gave evidence of
much wisdom and eloquence early in the negotia-
tions, evinced a disposition to assent readily to all
the terms prescribed by the commissioner of the
United States. This entire discussion is of deep
interest and in reply to Little Turtle’s speech above
mentioned, General Wayne said in his address be-
fore the Council held on the 24th of July:
“T have paid attention to what Little Turtle said
two days since concerning the land which he claims.
He said his fathers first kindled the fires at Detroit
and stretched his lines from thence to the head-
waters of the Scioto; thence down the Scioto to the
Ohio; thence down that river to the mouth of the
Wabash and from thence to Chicago on the south-
west end of Lake Michigan, and observed that his
forefathers had enjoyed that country from time im-
memorial.
“These boundaries enclose a very large space of
country, indeed they embrace, if I mistake not, all
the lands on which all the nations now present live
as well as those which have been ceded to the United
States. Then Little Turtle says, the prints of his
forefathers’ houses are everywhere to be seen with-
in these boundaries. Younger brother, it is true
these prints are to be observed but at the same time
we discover the marks of the French possessions
throughout this country, which were established long
before we were born. I will point out to you a few
places where I discover strong traces of these estab-
lishments, and first of all I find at Detroit a very
strong print where the fire was first kindled by your
forefathers; next at Vincennes on the Wabash; again
at Musquiton on the same river; a little higher up
that stream, they are to be seen at Ouitanon. I dis-
110
cover another strong trace at Chicago; another on
the banks of the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan. I
have seen distinctly the prints of a French and of a
British post at the Miami villages (Fort Wayne)
and of a British post at the rapids now in their pos-
sessions.”
At the Council on the 27th of July, after a general
acquiescence to the terms of the treaty had been
given by the other chiefs, Little Turtle arose and
said: ‘Listen, you chiefs and warriors, to what I
am about to say to you; to you I am speaking. We
have heard what our elder brother has said to us
this day. I expected to have him deliver those
words ever since we have been here for which rea-
son I observed you were precipitate on you part.
This is a business of greatest consequence to us all,
it is an affair to which no one among us can give
us an answer. Therefore, I hope we will take time
to consider the subject that we will unite in an
opinion and express it unanimously. Perhaps our
brothers the Shawnees from Detroit may arrive in
time to give us their assistance. You chiefs pres-
ent are men of sense and understanding. This occa-
sion calls for your serious deliberations, and you,
my uncles, the Wyandots, and grandfathers, the
Delawares, view our situation in its true point of
consideration.
‘All you present must know that every kind of
_business, especially such as we are at present en-
gaged in, exhibits difficulties which require patience
to remove, and consideration to adjust.”
In the discussion on the day following (July 28th)
the New Corn, a Pottawattomie Chief, growing im-
patient at the delay, exclaimed: ‘Why do you hesi-
tate? You know good works are always better
when executed with decision. I now entreat you all
to join hand and heart, and finish this good work
with our elder brother.”
At the Council on the 29th of July, addressing
General Wayne, Little Turtle said: ‘These people
(the French) were seen by our forefathers first at
Detroit; afterward we saw them at the Miami vil-
lil
lage (Fort Wayne) that glorious gate which your
younger brother had the happiness to own and
through which all the words of our chiefs had to
pass from the north to south and from east to west.
Brothers, these people never told us that they
wished to purchase these lands from us. I now give
you the true sentiments of your younger brothers,
the Miamis, with respect to the reservation at the
Miami villages. We thank you for kindly contract-
ing the limits you at first proposed. We wish you to
take this six miles square on the side of the river
where your fort now stands, as your younger broth-
ers wish to inhabit that beloved spot again. You
shall cut hay for your cattle wherever you please;
and you shall never require in vain the assistance of
your younger brother at that place. The next place
you pointed to, was the Little river, and said you
wanted two miles square at that place. This is a
request that our fathers the French or British never
made us. It was always ours. This carrying place
has heretofore proved in a great degree the sub-
sistance of your younger brothers. That place has
brought to us in the course of one day the amount
of one hundred dollars. Let us both own this place
and enjoy in common the advantages it affords.”
In his reply General Wayne used the following
language: “I find there is some objections to the
reservation at Fort Wayne. The Little Turtle ob-
serves he never heard of any cessions made at that
place to the French. I have traced the lines of two
forts at that point; one stood at the junction of the
St. Joseph with the St. Marys; and the other not
far removed on the St. Marys and it ever was an
established rule among the Europeans to reserve as
much ground around their forts as their cannon can
command. This is a rule as well known as any
other fact.
“Objection has also been made respecting the
portage between Fort Wayne and the Little river;
and the reasons produced are, that that road has
been to the Miamis a source of wealth; that it has
heretofore produced them one hundred dollars per
112
day. It may be so; but let us inquire who in fact
paid this heavy contribution. It is true the traders
bore it in the first instance, but they laid it on the
goods, and the Indians of the Wabash really and
finally paid it; therefore, it is the Little Beaver, the
Soldier, the Sun and their tribes who have actually
been so highly taxed.”
On the 17th day of July, 1795, was fixed the boun-
dary that should divide the United States, or the
fifteen great fires of America, from the lands be-
longing to the Indian nations.
Wayne explained to them the several articles of a
treaty upon which a permanent peace could be es-
tablished between the United States and the Indian
tribes northwest of the Ohio. The third article
which should define the boundary reads: ‘That the
general boundary between the lands of the United
States and the lands of the said Indian tribes shall
begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river and run
thence up the same to the portage between that and
the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence
down that branch to the crossing place near Fort
Laurens; thence westwardly to a fork of that branch
of the Great Miami river running into the Ohio riv-
er, at or near which stood Loramie’s store, and
where commenced the portage between the Miami
of the Ohio and St. Marys river which is a branch
of the Miami, which runs into Lake Erie; thence
a westerly course to Fort Recovery, which stands on
the bank of the Wabash; thence southerly in a direct
line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river oppo-
site the mouth of the Kentucky river.”
There were certain reservations granted to the
Indians in this treaty. <A lasting peace was provid-
ed for and it was stipulated that all the prisoners
then held should be restored.
Little Turtle insisted that the line should run from
Fort Recovery to Fort Hamilton on the Great Miami,
and assured the whites of the free navigation of that
river from thence to its mouth forever.
The treaty was signed August 3d, and exchanged
August 7, 1795. It was laid before the Senate
113
December 9, 1795, and was ratified December 22,
1795. This closed the old Indian wars of the west.
General Wayne, in declaring the Council at an end,
said:
-“T now fervently pray to the Great Spirit that the
peace now established may be permanent, and that
it now holds us together in the bonds of friendship
until time shall be no more. I also pray that the
Great Spirit above may enlighten your minds and
open your eyes to your true happiness, that your
children may learn to cultivate the earth and enjoy
the fruits of peace and industry.” |
By this treaty the Indians ceded about twenty-five
thousand (25,000) square miles of territory to the
United States, besides sixteen separate tracts, in-
cluding lands and forts. The Indians received in
consideration of these cessions goods of the value
of twenty thousand dollars as presents, and were
promised an annual allowance of ninety-five hun-
dred dollars to be equally distributed to the parties
to the treaty.
Twelve tribes were represented at the treaty as
follows: Delawares, 381; Pottawattomies, 240;
Wyandots, 180; Shawnees, 143; Miamis and Eel
Rivers, 73; Chippewas, 46; Ottawas, 45; Weas and
Piankeshawas, 17; Kickapoos and Kaskaskias, 10,
in all 1,130.
Every chief and warrior of the eleven hundred
and thirty who participated in that Council has long
since passed to the land of the Great Spirit.
General Wayne died on the banks of Lake Erie,
in 1796, and doubtless the dying hero saw in its tur-
bulent waters at times something of his own uncon-
querable will and at others that quiet peace which
come at last to his restless soul. The influence of
that will remain forever. It saved defenseless set-
tlements from the tomahawk and scalping knife of
the Indian, and opened up to emigration and settle-
ment the limitless west.
It is the testimony of history that the confederate
tribes kept the faith pledged at Greene Ville and
never violated the limits established by the treaty.
114
The writer of the volume on Ohio, in the “Amer-
ican Commonwealth Series,” says: “It was a grand
tribute to General Wayne, that no chief or warrior
who gave him the land at Fort Greene Ville ever
after lifted the hatchet against the United States.”
At the Greene Ville Treaty the new government
presented Little Turtle and other participating
chiefs with a beautiful silver medal, which was high-
ly prized by the savages. These medals and silver
ornaments were given out August 8th. This medal
‘ Pamsioant i795 2
\ Gee = cia
GREENEVILLE TREATY MEDAL
August 3, 1795.
was a fac-simile of the Red Jacket medal, except that
the date engraved thereon was 1795. It was of
oblong shape and four by six inches in size.
The Red Jacket medal was presented to Chief
Red Jacket in the spring of 1792, at Philadelphia,
by President Washington. It is now in the custody
of the Buffalo Historical Society.
From time immemorial loyalty has been rewarded
by the conferring of land and titles of nobility; by
the personal thanks of the sovereign; the presenta-
115
tions of medals and the bestowal of knightly hon-
ors, the insignia of which were hung on the breast
of the recipient. With the Indian Chief of the
western tribes it was the same.
The following is a complete description of the
Greene Ville treaty medal: On the obverse side,
President Washington is represented in uniform,
bareheaded, facing to the right and presenting a
pipe to an Indian Chief, who is smoking it. The
Indian is standing, and has a large medal suspend-
ing from his neck. On the left is a pine tree at the
foot of which lies a tomahawk. In the background
is a farmer plowing. Below, in exergue, George
Washington, President, 1795. On the reverse side
appears the arms and crest of the United States on
the breast of an eagle. In the eagle’s right talon
is an olive branch, in the left a sheaf of arrows, in
its beak the motto, E Pluribus Unum, and above a
glory breaking through the clouds and surrounded
by thirteen stars.
It seems that the Little Turtle medal is now lost,
as we have so far failed to find it among any of his
descendants, or to learn where any of them have
disposed of it. It was not interred with him at his
burial, as its absence was especially noticed from
all of the other things that were taken from the
grave. Its present location seems to be entirely
unknown to any person now living. However, one
of these medals were presented to Wa-pa-man-qua,
White Loon, a Wea Chief, and secured from one of
his descendants in Oklahoma by E. B. Dyer, of
Augusta, Georgia. It is now in the public museum
of Kansas City, Missouri.
Another was presented to She-nock-in-wak, or
Soldier as he was commonly called, Chief of the Eel
River Miamis. We learn that one of the above
named chiefs of Miami county, Indiana, whose
name was John Eveline, sold this medal about 1906,
to Charles F. Gunther, a wealthy relic collector and
’ extensive candy manufacturer of the city of Chica-
go. So this is about all we are able to say concern-
ing any and all of the Greene Ville treaty medals
116
given out by the government at the treaty in 1795,
to the various chiefs and warriors there assembled.
The Indians were loathe to leave GreeneVille
even after the General’s eloquent farewell speech,
and besought him to accept as a token of their love
and esteem for him a present of the GreeneVille
treaty peace pipe, which with great ceremony was
handed to him by Tar-ke, or the Crane, the Wyan-
dot Chief, whose tribe was always the keeper of
this sacred implement.
Let us strive to realize the full significance and
the great importance attached by the aboriginal
inhabitant of America to the solemn pledge which
the pipe of peace conveyed when once smoked in
solemn council between the various tribes which
had been at war with each other. It was believed
by them that the fumes from the smoke of the pipe
of peace ascended into the presence of the Great
Spirit. When this is fully comprehended, we can
more readily understand the full meaning of the
sentence uttered by Little Turtle at the treaty of
GreeneVille, when he said, that he would be the
first to sign the treaty and the last to break it.
Let us note and remember this remark made by the
greatest Indian diplomat of all time, at one of the
greatest treaties ever consummated between the
white and the red man; a treaty next in importance
to that magna charter granted to General Rufus
Putnam in 1787.
Since the first time the peace-breathing pipe
was smoked its solemnity was nowhere more
fully illustrated than at this treaty of Fort Greene-
Ville, August 8, 1795, on the site of Greenville,
Ohio, located in the northwest corner of Section 35,
Township 12, Range 2 East.
Fort Jefferson is located east part Section 28,
sai hcapyt 11, Range 2 East, both of Darke County,
110.
For a full account verbatim of that document
known as the GreeneVille Treaty, we refer the
reader to page 119, Henry Harvey’s History of the
Shawnee Indians; and to Knapp’s History of the
117
Maumee Valley, page 221; and to various contem-
porary authors.
We learn from Knapp’s “History of the Mau-
mee Valley’, page 358, that at a farewell confer-
ence on August 12th, after the treaty had been
signed and exchanged with the Miami, Eel River,
Kickapoo and possibly a few other chiefs, that Lit-
tle Turtle in his farewell address to General Wayne,
and in the name of the others observed:
“That as they intended soon to depart and return
to their respective homes, he took the opportunity
of repeating to the General, that he himself, and
the Indians with him were perfectly acquainted —
with every article of the treaty; that no part had
escaped their serious and anxious deliberation; that
in the early stage of the negotiation he had not
comprehended the moderation and liberality with
which he is now convinced it is dictated; that to
this cause, and to a duty which he conceived he
owed his country, must be attributed the opposition
he exhibited on sundry occasions; that he was per-
suaded his father would not think unkindly of him
for it; for he had heard him with much pleasure
approve of the freedom with which he delivered his
sentiments; that he was a man who spoke as he
thought and a man of sincerity; and that he em-
braced this last opportunity to declare to him that
as he was fully convinced that this treaty was wise-
ly and benevolently calculated to promote the mutual
interests and insure the permanent happiness of the
Indians and of their father, the Americans; so it
was his determined resolution to adhere religiously
to its stipulations’’.
He asked for traders to reside at their different
villages and mentioned the names of some who for
the confidence he had in their integrity they wished
might be licensed and continued by the United
States as traders among them. He hoped for the
_Weas, in particular, that a fort would be imme-
diately established at Ouiatanon, and promised ev-
ery assistance which they could afford to the estab-
lishment; that he himself would reside near Fort
Wayne, where daily experience should convince his
118
father of his sincere friendship; and that as he
intended to re-kindle the grand Council Fire at that
place by means of which the different nations might
communicate with each other as usual, he requested
his father to give orders to the commandant at Fort
Wayne to inform him from time to time of any
measures which the great council of the Fifteen
Fires might adopt in which the interests of their
children should be concerned; and that Captain
William Wells might be placed there as a resident
interpreter, as he possessed their confidence as fully
as he did that of their father.
“We children all well understand the sense of this
treaty which is now concluded. We have exper-
ienced daily proofs of your increasing kindness. I
hope we may all have sense enough to enjoy our
dawning happiness and to this end may we all
abide in everlasting peace.” This and much more
Little Turtle said in this farewell address.
He had awakened from this delightful reverie
in which dreams of his childhood had come again;
And when these thoughts were plucked from the
halls of memory sweet. He knew of the power of
the Miamis in the days of his youth and now fore-
saw their decline and final extinction with prophetic
vision.
With his mind filled with those gloomy forebod-
ings, he poured out his soul in that Indian eloquence
that was never forgotten by those who heard him.
There was an officer of Wayne’s legion present
who witnessed the dignity and noble bearing of
Little Turtle and heard this notable address of the
distinguished Chief. He was a painter, quite equal
to George H. Catlin, and became wonderfully im-
pressed with the surrounding landscape; General]
Wayne, his interpreters, aides and officers in full
uniform, and Little Turtle and his associated Indian
Chiefs bedecked in striking Indian attire. Hence,
he proceeded with paint and brush to delineate one
of the most striking paintings, now in possession of
the Chicago Historical Society. Through the cour-
tesy of this society we present in these pages a
photograph of this wonderful painting.
i
Lp aa
Caroline M. Mcllvain, librarian of the society, in
her annual report for 1914, says: “Mr. LaVerne
Noyes is the donor of one of the most important
gifts of the year, namely: a small painting, said to
have been painted by an officer of Anthony Wayne’s
legion. Who that officer was is today a mystery,
and we suppose will always remain a problem un-
solved”. The site depicted in this painting was also
unknown, consequently, a photograph was taken of
it, which was then sent to responsible parties at the
various early forts built by Wayne during his cam-
paign against the Indians, for identification. One
was sent to the writer of these pages, who imme-
diately identified the topography and landscape as
This is likely Little Turtle’s farewell address to General Wayne and
officers, at foot of Stoney Alley, Greenville, Ohio, August 12, 1798.
(This through courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.)
that of Fort GreeneVille, and the occasion, prob-
ably that described in Knapp’s “History of the Mau-
mee Valley” as above mentioned on August 12th.
Judging from the photograph here presented this
conference probably occurred near the water’s edge
of Greenville creek, just outside of the northern
walls of the fort, as its northeast bastion is shown
in the distance on the extreme right of the view,
near the present Broadway bridge. As the photo-
graph of this painting plainly shows the waters of
Greenville creek were glimmering in the noonday’s
sun, and the majestic oaks and elms were arrayed
in beautiful midsummer foliage. 'Tecumseh’s point
120
and the highlands on which Minatown, a suburb of
Greenville, now stands, are seen to the north across
the creek. The brick house of Mr. W. A. Lohman,
No. 240 Water Street, Lot No. 332, now stands in
the .middle of this historic prairie. Old settlers
still remember this ravine which headed a little
south of Water Street, and ran northward across
Water Street, becoming deeper and much wider as
it approached the creek just east of Elm Street.
Mr. W. A. Lohman, an old and reliable resident
says, that Greenville creek has been ditched since
he first lived there, some fifty years ago in order
to drain the Mud creek prairies above; and that
before the ditching was done there was good boat-
ing all along the creek, and that the ordinary depth
of the water was four feet during the summer
months; and that now its average is only four inches
for the same season of the year.
This ravine which led to the old fording place,
as well as the bottoms on the south side of the creek
to near the water’s edge have been filled by reducing
the knoll to the west and hauling in other dirt, and
today the homes and buildings of the citizens of
Greenville are standing all along the north side of
Water Street. It is quite evident that a great
change has taken place in the topography of this
immediate vicinity in the last one hundred and
twenty-five years—originally almost a wilderness,
now a beautiful city.
We suggest as a key to the proper understanding
of this famous painting—the author of whom no
doubt will remain forever unknown—the following
explanation: The officer standing near the Indian
Chief with the epaulettes on his shoulder is, with-
out doubt, General Wayne, as indicated by his stat-
ure, features and bodily contour. The Indian Chief-
tain talking to him most probably is Little Turtle,
as shown by his height, his headdress, ear rings,
beads and sash across the right shoulder which cor-
respond ‘with another authentic painting of his
shown in the first pages of this work. More than
that, the artist, without doubt, intended to portray
the principal characters in this famous group. Who
a ———
{21
could have been more famous at that time and place
than General Wayne and Chief Little Turtle? The
Indian Chief holding the peace pipe is likely the
Wyandot Chief, the Crane, keeper of the calumet,
Or pipe of peace.
The remainder of the white officers were some of
Wayne’s aides, subordinate officers and interpreters.
William Henry Harrison was here as a lieutenant,
and Captain William Wells, acting as interpreter
is Shown on one knee, with book and pencil tran-
scribing the Indian speech. The tents, erected on
the outside of the fort, were for the convenience
of the various Chiefs and warriors attending this—
memoriable treaty of 1795.
On August 3, 1906, the Greenville Historical So-
ciety unveiled a beautiful bronze tablet with this
inscription: ‘Placed to commemorate the Treaty
of GreeneVille, Signed August 3d, 1795, by Gen-
eral Anthony Wayne, representing the United
States government, and the chiefs and agents of
the allied Indian tribes of the territory northwest
of the Ohio river’’.
We here repeat, for the better understanding of
the reader, that the tribes with which the United
States were connected in this treaty were the Wyan-
dots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas, Chippewas,
Pottawattomies, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kicka-
poos, Piankeskas and Kaskaskias.
All but the last two were in the confederacy
which carried on the former Indian war against
the United States which was terminated by the
treaty of GreeneVille. The Wyandots were admit-
ted by all the others to be the leading tribe. They
held the grand calumet, as mentioned above, which
united them and kindled the council fire. Tar-ke,
or the Crane, was the Grand Sachem of the Wyan-
dot nation, and had charge of the grand calumet,
or pipe of peace at the treaty.
General Wayne on his return from Philadelphia
arrived at Detroit August 13, 1796, probably by the
sloop Detroit from Presque Isle, on the present site
of Erie, Pa. He was received with demonstration
of great joy by all persons, including the twelve
122
hundred Indians there assembled according to the
habit formed by the British. Having accepted the
surrender of the fort from the British, he remained
at Detroit until November 17, 1796, when he start-
ed on the return trip to Philadelphia on a small
sloop. On this voyage over Lake Erie his system
was much irritated and fatigued by the tossings of
the storm and the disease, from which he had for
some time suffered (understood as gout) made
great progress. It could not be allayed after his
arrival at Fort Presque Isle, and he died there De-
cember 15, 1796. At his request he was buried un-
der the flag staff of the fort. Subsequently, his son
Isaac Wayne, accompanied by a few of his old
friends and neighbors, transferred his bones to the
place of their nativity in the Radnor churchyard,
Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where they now lie
in peace.
We have no means of knowing what preparation
General Wayne deemed it necessary to make for his
transference to the Spirit land.
“There is no death, what seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath
Is but the suburb of that life Elysian
Whose portals we call death.”
Atwater, one of the earliest and most truthful
historians of Ohio, says of General Wayne, “that
he was a man of most splendid talents, both natural
and acquired, no one can doubt for a moment
who reads his history. Every action of his life
from youth to age shows this fact, and no panegyric
of ours can render it more plain or make his char-
acter shine brighter. Political demagogues might
treat him with contumely and base ingratitude, but
they cannot obliterate a single syllable which re-
cords his brilliant actions. His fame will never
fade but grow more fresh and green to the end of
time. Every son and daughter of Ohio, Kentucky
and all of the west will forever cherish in their
hearts the ever dear memories of Anthony Wayne.”
One hundred and twenty years have passed since
the day of his death, but the memory of his ser-
0
123
vices for his country and his feats in arms still
continue to enrich and ennoble true patriotism
throughout all the land.
He lives in the recollections of his countrymen to
lead future patriots and warriors to glorious and
golden victories. Death has purified his fame and
placed it beyond the reach of calumny.
Party politicians, whose meteors may rise and
fall, flash and expire in a moment; but the sun of
Wayne’s glory will never set in our western horizon
of the Mississippi’s wide valley, until the archan-
gels’ triumph shall call his body from the grave to
life everlasting. We have paid a just but partial.
tribute to his name by calling numberless counties
and townships after him throughout the different
states of the American union, and especially by
christening one city of near a hundred thousand
inhabitants, whose citizens love to cherish and hon-
or him as a namesake, ‘‘Fort Wayne’, Indiana.
General Wayne, who on his arrival at Presque
Isle, realized that death was near, though a surgeon
at Pittsburg had been sent for, called his officers
around him, zgave directions as to his burial and
proceeded to dispose of his personal effects.
Among other things he gave to his nephew and
aide, Captain William Kendall, his spurs, watch and
chain, and the GreeneVille treaty calumet. These
priceless relics were handed down through succeed-
ing generations of the Kendall family, until they
became the property of Mr. Alva Kendall Overturf,
of Columbus, Ohio, who is a great grandson of the
recipient, Captain William Kendall. It is with
great pleasure that we announce that in 1915 this
noble and patriotic citizen placed these relics in the
Ohio Museum of the Archaeological and Historical
Societies, Columbus, O., as they are without doubt
some of the most valuable historical relics the
Museum contains. The calumet, which was prob-
ably made especially for the GreeneVille Treaty, is
a unique piece of Indian handicraft. The stem is
thirty-two and one-half inches long, and is made of
hand carved birch wood from the northern forests;
and the bowl which is seven and one-half inches
124
long is of red catlimite clamped with three lead
bands. It is curved and ornamented, and the maker
of it manifested quite a good deal of skill. The ©
slight char made in the treaty ceremonial smoke
still shows in the bowl of the pipe. There is not
the slightest doubt about the genuineness of this
relic. It has been handed down from father to son
with the true attestation of its identity.
Prof. Mills has lately placed in the museum a
photographic copy of the GreeneVille treaty, which
is still preserved with the records of the State De-
partment at Washington. They show the signa-
tures of the great Chiefs whose tribes were parties
to it, with pictures of animals and birds and the like
to represent them.
We are fortunate to secure a halftone of this pipe
as it is; on account of its length of bowl and stem
it presented difficulties to the artist which had to
be overcome by its reduction in size.
The Miamis at the time of the treaty had their
principal settlements on the present site of Fort
Wayne; at the forks of the Wabash thirty miles
southwest of the same place; and at another point
thirty miles still farther down on the Wabash at
Signal Rock. Sixty miles above Vincennes on the
Wabash lived the Weas, a separate band of the
Miamis. Another flourishing village was Little
Turtle’s town on Blue River, the north branch of
Eel river, twenty miles northwest of Fort Wayne
They were undoubtedly the proprietors of all the
beautiful country which is watered by the Wabash
and Maumee valleys, and, there is no doubt that
their claim extended, at least, as far east as the
Scioto and south to the Ohio river. Whereas, all
of the neighboring tribes were intruding upon them,
or had been permitted to settle in their country.
The Wyandots emigrated first from Lake On-
tario, and subsequently, from Lake Huron; the Del-
awares from Pennsylvania and Maryland; the Kick-
apoos and Pottawattomies from the country be-
tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi; and
the Ottawas and Chippewas from the peninsula
formed by Lakes Michigan, Huron and St. Clair.
VII.
BIRTHPLACE OF LITTLLE TURTLE.
The village where Little Turtle was born in 1752,
was located on the north tributary of Eel river,
twenty miles northwest of Fort Wayne, Whitley
county, Indiana, on lands now owned by William
Anderson in Section 9, Smith township. This
northern tributary is known today as the Blue
River branch near its junction at Blue River Lake,
to which it furnishes an outlet only a short distance ©
away.
View of Little Turtle’s Village Site at present time, where he was born
1752, showing a small portion of Blue River Lake, looking southeast
twenty miles northwest of Fort Wayne. Taken May 23, 1913. Leonard
Young standing in back ground, age six years.
The village stood on the west side of the river
on a high sandy point of land surrounded on three
sides by a great bend in the river. A wide prairie
marsh skirted these high lands north and south, but
on the east the high banks were near each other
making it an easy ford to the north bank of the
lake only a few hundred yards to the eastward.
The Blue River Lake covered some five hundred
acres. Near the foot of the hill immediately to the
125
126
south a fine spring of water bubbled forth under-
neath the shade of a beautiful grove of Barrens
oak trees. A short distance south of the spring,
nestling in the middle of the prairie, was a small
lake containing three or four acres and so deep
that the water looked a dark blue. It was called
by the Indians Devil’s Lake, from the fact that
something mysterious had appeared in or near it
entirely unknown to Indian lore during a dusky
summer evening, at which the Indians became ter-
ribly frightend and ran all the way to Fort Wayne,
then a frontier outpost.
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LITTLE TURTLE'S VILLAGE SITE 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF FT WAYNE
Where he was born in 1752
Many times about 1863, and for a number of
years later, the writer was on this peculiar ancient
village site, where Little Turtle was born and where
he spent nearly all his life. This was about sixteen
years after the last of the Indians had departed
leaving the old trails, village and burial sites about
as they had left them. This spot always seemed to
me enchanted ground. I have heard the solemn
bark of the lonesome fox, the weird scream of the
Canada lynx, also the shrill notes of the great
northern loon as he floated by high in the clear, blue
127
atmosphere. Along the river banks were Indian
trails worn several inches deep, which not only spoke
of primitive, but also of recent times as it was'a
flourishing village in 1812, and possibly was not
entirely deserted until 1846, at which time the In-
dians were nearly all removed to the west.
I often sat under the shade of those oaks and
elms, walked those paths just as they were left by
aS sad and lonely Miami on his last pilgrimage
ere.
A catlimite peace pipe was found in 1884, by
Mrs. Mary (Gross) Boggs on the surface of a nearby
field. A valuable cache of flint implements was
ploughed out a short distance down the river a few
years ago, which fell into the hands of careless par-
ties, and were soon lost or destroyed. Some very
fine slate ornaments, tube whistles and similar ob-
jects were found recently near Coulter lake a mile
below.
The site is still uncleared and no doubt contains
many hidden and curious remains of prehistoric
times. . |
An Indian trail led from this village northwest
to the Elkhart river; another southeast to the
Miami villages at the head of the Maumee (now
Fort Wayne); a third southwest down the Eel
River to the Wabash; a fourth to Tippecanoe lake
and the Kankakee river.
Many of the sandy plateaus of northern Indiana
and southern Michigan were covered in primitive
times by a species of shrub oak, known by the pion-
eers as the Barrens oak groves. <A peculiar fea-
ture of these oaks was that they would hold their
dense foliage brown and sear throughout the entire
winter months, thus affording a natural windbreak
and in connection with the beautiful tamarack ever-
green groves of northern Indiana and Michigan,
modifying the most severe winters. This is the
species of oaks referred to in the vicinity of Little
Turtle’s town and are the kind that shaded the
crystal spring at the foot of the hill.
Blue river lake is only a short distance away,
128
being in plain view to the southeast. No doubt
Little Turtle as a child spent many happy hours
about this enchanted spot.
On this account the reader will pardon me if I
make a slight digression in describing more fully
the lakes of northern Indiana. We can do no better
at this point than to quote from Prof. W. S. Blatch-
ley, State Geologoist of the State of Indiana for a
nuinber of years, possibly from 1895 to 1906 or 7.
He says, “Without question the most beautiful
and picturesque portion of the state of Indiana is
that found in the lake region’. These lakes were
well known in prehistoric times to those true chil-
dren of nature. The Indians who built their wig-
wams nearby, hunted about the shores and fished
in the quiet waters. The pioneers were no less ac-
quainted with them, since it was here that all of the
birds and animals of the forest came to quench
their thirst, and the bass and pickerel were always
waiting for their bait. Today many of these lake
shores are lined with cottages and tents where the
busy sons and daughters of the Hoosier State go
for rest and pleasure during the hot summer weeks.
The lakes of northern Indiana are the brightest
gems in the corona of the state. They are the most
beautiful and expressive features of the landscape
in the region wherein they abound. Numbered by
hundreds they range in size from an area of half
an acre up to five or six square miles. With the
fertile soil, the great beds of gravel and myriads
of boulders, large and small, they are to be classed
as mementoes of the mighty ice sheets which in the
misty past covered the northern two-thirds of the
state.
Outside of the counties in which they occur, but
few of the citizens of Indiana know of their pres-
ence, their beauty and their value. Their origin
fauna and flora, the cause of their diminution in
size, and final extinction are likewise known by but
few.
By the red man these lakes were more highly
appreciated than by his more civilized Caucasian
129
successor, for the reason that the Indian stood much
nearer to wild nature than we.
On the highest ridges overlooking these lakes he
had his village sites. Over their placid waters he
paddled his birchbark canoe, and from their depths
he secured with hook and spear, fishes sufficient to
supply his needs while mussels and the roots of
the water lilies added variety to his daily food. The
fowls by myriads in their migrating season came
and went, stopping to feed upon the lakes, thus
offering the red hunter many a chance to test his
markmanship with bow and arrow, while the skins
of the muskrat, otter and beaver, which he trapped
This view taken August, 1914 of Blue River Lake, Smith Township,
Whitley County, Indiana, looking northwest, showing Little Turtle’s
Village Site in the distance.
about their marshy margins, furnished him protec-
tion against the cold.
Thus it will be seen that his very existence de-
pended ofttimes upon these living bodies of water.
It is little wonder therefore, that he remained in
their vicinity until driven westward by the conquer-
ing white man, leaving only the signs of his feasts,
vast piles of shells, bones and pit ovens, as remind-
ers of his former presence and glory.
Blue river lake lies two miles northwest of Chur-
ubusco, and is in Sections 9, 10, 15 and 16, Smith
township, Whitley county, Indiana. It is oblong in
shape, narrower at the eastern end and is about one
130
and one-quarter miles long by one-half mile in aver-
age width. It has an area of some 500 acres and
a very uniform depth of 40 to 60 feet.
The area of shallow water is of medium width,
rather broad on the east, south and west sides and
narrower on the north. The shore at most points
is rather abrupt, the surrounding country being of
a rolling type.
Blue river heads in Green township, Noble county,
from a chain of small lakes that range across the
north side of the township, including Sand, Long,
Rock and Bowen lakes. It finally empties into Blue
river lake for a few rods only on the west end, and
then takes a southwest course by Columbia city
and a few miles below empties into Eel river. This
lake thus receives its waters from upper Blue river,
and from springs along its sides and bottom. It is
well stocked with food fishes.
Dr. Dryer speaks of the midsummer vegetation
about the shores of this lake, as follows: ‘Aquatic
vegetation in great variety and profusion furnished
a botanists’ paradise. There are pond weeds, water
shield, bladder wort, yellow pond lilies, duck weed,
cat-tail, pickerel weed, smart weed and numerous
other varieties.
“This lake is the only locality in northeastern In-
diana known to the writer, where the famous and
splendid American lotus occurs. Here it is as abun-
dant as the white water lily. Its flowers are diffi-
cult to procure because they are gathered by numer-
ous visitors as fast as they open. With their leaves
rolled up and rocking like a boat or expanded into
an orbicular shield twenty or thirty inches in diam-
eter and flapping in the wind, they present an in-
teresting and attractive sight. The water in Blue
river lake in midsummer has an appearance of
muddy coffee and through the whole season teems
with plant and animal life.”
Such a lake as this would repay a thorough and
prolonged biological examination and would fur-
nish the naturalist with material enough for several
years’ study.
131
Tippecanoe lake, the head of Tippecanoe river,
lays to the westward about sixteen miles and
reaches the remarkable depth of one hundred and
twenty-five feet.
It seems that nature provided here with a lavish
hand, an ideal home for the Red Man. The soil was
productive for Indian corn and the writer saw the
old Indian fields red with strawberries in June.
Wild grapes, wild plums, hazel nuts, acorns, and
wild berries of all kinds grew nearby in abundance.
There were red deer, wild turkeys, prairie chickens
and pheasants, river and lakes teeming with fish:
and over all a scenic beauty that the poet with his
pen could not describe, nor the artist with his brush
portray.
I distinctly remember the strong temptation to
recline on the grassy hillside near Little Turtle’s
town and the losing of myself in silent contempla-
tion. Soul melting scenes were about me. A place
where the mind could speak volumes, but the tongue
must be silent, that would speak, and the hand pal-
sied that would write. A place where a divine
might confess that he never had fancied paradise
thus, where the painter’s palette would lose its
beautiful tints. The blood-stirring notes of elo-
quence would die in their uttering, and even the
soft tones of sweet music would scarcely preserve
a spark to light the soul again that had passed this
sweet delirium. I mean the forest, the lake, the
prairie at sunset, when all of these are turned into
gold, and their long shadows of melancholy are
thrown over the scene. When the breathings of
day are hushed and naught but the soft notes of
the wolf, who breaks through these scenes of en-
chantment, and mournfully howls as if lonesome and
lost.
The Indian trail and desolate village and the
fountain at the foot of the hill can now scarcely be
found. All the beauty and poetry of Indian lore,
it seems were represented here as the floating
clouds of summer long ago drifted over the deep
AVE
blue sky. Such was the birthplace and home of
Little Turtle, the great Miami Chieftain.
“Did we not own this glorious land
Each mountain, lake and river
Were they not from Thy sacred hand
Our heritage forever?
‘“‘Where tombs arise and harvests wave
Our children used to stray
We cannot find our fathers’ graves
Our fathers, where are they?
“Like snow before the fiery glance
Like dew in the garment’s ray
Like bubbles that on the ocean dance
Our tribes are swept away.”
—Anonymous.
In order to confirm our claim concerning the loca-
tion of Little Turtle’s town we refer the reader to
the following authorities: The hand book of the
North American Indians; Bulletin 30, vol. 1, page
771, published by the Bureau of American Ethnol-
ogy, Washington, D. C.; Dillon’s “History of the
State of Indiana’, page 195; also Brice’s “History
of Fort Wayne’, published in 1868, page 227.
A little over two months after (Me-she-kin-no-
quah’s) or Little Turtle’s death, which occurred at
Fort Wayne, July 14, 1812, General Harrison or-
dered Colonel Simrall on September 17th following
to destroy Little Turtle’s town twenty miles north-
west of Fort Wayne, but not to destroy the house
built by the government for him. This dwelling
consisted of a substantial log house about eighteen
by twenty feet square. Those Indian trails, wild
bee trees, beaver dams, and above all the countless
swarms of the wild pigeons, will never be forgotten
by the writer, who as a boy visited this enchanted
site over half a century ago.
The early settlers and trappers at that time, when
the Indians were still present, fully corroborated
133
the above statements. An especially good witness
was Mr. Robert Walburn, an old trapper and hunt-
er, who in 1870 killed the last red deer known to
run wild in Whitley county. This gentleman, near-
ly a life long citizen of Whitley county, died in old
age in the year 1900. He came to this neighbor-
hood when quite a young man from Champaign
county, Ohio, and gave the writer much of the above
stated facts.
One of the first settlers of Smith township, Whit-
ley county, was one Mr. Martin, who arrived with
his family about 1840, and settled on a piece of wild
land in section 18. His cabin stood within two or
three miles of this village. He had a son Hiram,
who several times narrowly escaped from the
wolves. The writer knew this young man after he
had reached middle life and worked for him by the
month on the old farm that he inherited from his
father, and enjoyed many interesting talks with
him about the wild animals and Indians who were
still there in his boyhood days. His memory was
very clear and accurate concerning the old village.
The main branch of Eel river is crossed by the
old Indian trail (now the Goshen state road), only
eleven miles northwest of Fort Wayne. This could
not have been the stream on which this village was
located as that stream was twenty miles from old
Fort Wayne, or nine miles beyond the above point,
or on the west bank of Blue river near the west
end of Blue river lake, and immediately north of
what is known today as the Little Devil lake.
One of the last remnants of the Miami tribe spok-
en of by the early pioneers of Whitley county were
settled in a small village on the eastern bank of
Round lake, on or near the identical spot now occu-
pied as a burial place for the white man’s dead,
known as the Round lake cemetery, some three
miles west of the Little Turtle village. Here, in
1846 or 1847, they spent their last summer fishing
and hunting and continually calling at the cabin
door of the early settler begging him to share with
them the common necessaries of life.
154
Mrs. Diana Leach, a daughter of a pioneer and
sister to the Mr. Hiram Martin mentioned above,
remembered well the time, and would often rehearse
in later days about a number of the pioneer set-
tlers, her father included, who met on a certain day
and called in a body on those Indians at this village
and informed them that their presence there was no
longer desired, and that they would have to seek
a home somewhere else. They shortly disappeared,
never to return. The writer several years after-
ward lived on a lease taken by one Mr. John Powles,
in which he had agreed to clear forty acres of this
land for all he raised for a term of years. Several
one-half ounce leaden bullets and other things were
picked up near this locality. My visit here a
short time since can best be described in the words
of the unknown poet:
“Ts it changed or am I changed?
Ah the oaks are just as green
But the friends with whom I roamed
Beneath their thickets are estranged
By the years that intervene.
“Bright as ever flows the stream;
Bright as ever shines the sun
But, alas; it seems to me
Not the stream it used to be
Not the sun that used to shine.”
Anonymous.
VII.
A CHARACTER SKETCH.
No section of our country ever produced greater
Indians than Pontiac, Little Turtle and Tecumseh.
No part of America is richer in tragedy, romance
and pathos or Indian lore than the region included
in the old Territory Northwest of the Ohio river.
Here was the empire of the Algonquin tribes, ex-
tending far into British America, from whence they
had come.
As Professor’ Cyrus Thomas tells us, “the eaten
point of the Algonquin movement appears, from a
thorough examination of the subject, to have been
in the area north and northwest of Lake Superior.
The stream of emigration to the southward crossed
to the south side of the lakes in the region of Mich-
ilmackinac entering the southern Michigan penin-
sula. Here, after a long halt, they divided, a part,
probably the Shawnees, going south; another, pos-
sibly the Miamis, remaining in southern Michigan;
the rest, the Delawares, Nanticokes and others
moving onward toward the Atlantic coast.”
We have mentioned each successive Miami Chief,
from the time of their first contact with the whites,
until the last Chief had passed away. We here
recall the name of each, as it appeared in point of
time from the first to the last:
First, Aque-nook-quah; second, Me-she-kin-no-
quah (Little Turtle) ; third, Pechon or (Lagrisse) ;
fourth, Pe-she-Wah or (Richardville) ; fifth, To-pe-
ah or (Francis LaFontaine) ; sixth and last, Jos-
eph LaFontaine Engleman, who died in 1914.
Pontiac was assassinated in 1767, at a great Indian
council of the Illinois, at St. Louis. He had just
finished a war speech wherein he favored the con-
tinuance of war against the English. An Indian
of the Peoria tribe was present as a spy to report
the proceedings of this council to the English. This
135
136
Indian, at the close of the speech plunged his knife
in his heart and the great Chieftain fell dead upon
the spot. Neither mound or tablet marked the bur-
ial place of Pontiac. But for a mausoleum a city
has risen above the forest hero, and the race whom
he hated with such burning rancor, trample with
burning footsteps over his forgotten grave.
Tecumseh was killed in the battle of the Thames,
October 5, 1813, at the head of twenty-five hundred
(2,500) Indian allies. Mr. Caleb Atwater tells us
that he fell on the very first fire of the Kentucky
dragoons, pierced by several bullets.
Thus both of them died a violent death; one while
engaged in stirring up strife, turmoil and war, the
other in battle in a terrific assault against his in-
veterate enemies, the Americans. Both died with
enmity and vengeance against the pale face.
Not so with Little Turtle. After a comparative
study of this last great trio of the forest kings,
we are convinced that Little Turtle had a wider con-
ception of the future welfare and well being of his
race than either of the other two chieftains, and in
contrast with them died in peace and friendship
with the Americans and was laid to rest by them
beside the peaceful waters of the river St. Joseph.
When we consider the time, place and circum-
stances of his birth we are not surprised to hear
that such conditions produced a character like his.
The French and Indian War, in which his father
probably tok part as an ally of the French, was
just closing and was soon to be followed by the war
of the Revolution in the East. While the seat of
conflict was somewhat isolated the whole lake coun-
try was disturbed by the occasional news brought in
by the French and English traders, and we can
readily see that Little Turtle eagerly imbibed the
stories of conflict and conquest rehearsed around
the campfire. From the brief sketch of Miami his-
tory we can readily estimate the virtues inherited
from his father. As his mother was a Mohegan
(Mohican), Little Turtle was classed by Indian
custom as belonging to this historic tribe. The
137
Mohegans were a warlike tribe, who at an early
date, inhabited Connecticut and part of New York
lying east of the upper Hudson river. They are
classified as belonging to the Delaware branch of
the Algonquin stock. During the French and In-
dian War they fought with the English against the
French; and during the Revolution they espoused
the cause of the colonists against the English. On
account of their warlike propensities they became
divided and scattered and almost exterminated. At
the advent of the Pilgrims their warriors were de-
scribed as courageous and possessed of a fine and
noble bearing. The inroads of their nearest west-.
ern neighbors, the Mohawks, and the _ encroach-
ments of the English colonists forced them to sell
their territory piecemeal, and, about 1730, a large
body of them emigrated to the Susquehanna river
and settled near Wyoming, Pa., in the vicinity of the
Delawares and Munsees, with whom they later moved
to the Ohio region. However, as early as 1721, a band
of the Mohicans found their way to Indiana, where
they located a village on the Kankakee river, in
which Little Turtle’s mother was born and reared.
In later days remnants of this tribe settled at
Green Bay, Wisconsin and in Kansas. It is said
that the government of the Mohicans was demo-
cratic, but this does not conform to the statement
that the office of Chief Sachem was hereditary by
the lineage of the wife of the Sachem. According
to Ruttenber the Sachem was assisted by council-
lors, and also by one hero, one owl, and one runner.
The other males were called young men or war-
riors. The Sachem, or more properly, King, re-
mained at all times with his tribe and consulted
their welfare. He had charge of the wmoti, or bag
of peace, which contained the belts and strings used
to establish peace and friendship with different
nations and concluded all treaties on behalf of his
people. The councilors were elected and were called
Chiefs. Their business was to consult with their
Sachem in promoting the peace and happiness of
their people. The title of hero was gotten only by
138
courage and prudence in war. When a war alli-
ance was asked, or cause for war existed with an-
other tribe the Sachem and the councilors consult-
ed, and if they concluded to take up their hatchet,
the matter was put in the hands of the heroes for
execution. When peace was proposed, the heroes
put the negotiations in the hands of the Sachem
and councilors. The office of owl was also one of
merit, the bearer of this title must have a strong
memory and must be a good speaker. His business
was to sit beside his Sachem and proclaim his or-
ders to the people with a loud voice and also to get
up every morning as soon as daylight and arouse
the people and order them to their daily duties.
The business of runner was to carry messages and
to convene councils.
The Mohicans were generally well built. As fight-
ing men they were perfidious, accomplishing their
designs by treachery, using strategem to deceive
their enemies and making their most hazardous at-
tacks under cover of darkness. The women orna-
mented themselves more than the men. All wore
around the waist a girdle made of fin of the whale
or sewant. The men originally wore a breach cloth
made of skins, but after the Dutch came those who
could obtain it wore between their legs a lap of duf-
fels cloth half an ell broad and nine quarters long,
which they girded around their waists and drew up
in a fold with a flap of each end hanging down in
front and rear. In addition to this they had man-
tles of feathers and at a later period decked them-
selves with plaid duffels cloth in the form of a sash,
which was worn over the right shoulder drawn in a
knot around the body with the ends extending down
below the knees. When the young men wished to
look especially attractive they wore a band about
their heads, manufactured and braided with scar-
let deer hair interwoven with soft shining red hair.
According to Vander Donck, the women wore a
cloth around their bodies fastened by a girdle which
extended below the knees, but next to the body
under this coat they used a dressed deerskin coat
139
girt around the waist. The lower part of this skirt
they ornamented with stripes tastefully decorated
with wampum, which was frequently worth with
from one hundred to three hundred guilders ($40
to $120). They bound their hair behind in a club
about a hand long in the form of a beaver’s tail,
over which they drew a square wampum ornament-
ed cap; and when they desired to be fine they drew
around the forehead a band also ornamented with
wampum, which was fastened behind in a _ knot.
Around their necks they hung various ornaments.
They also wore bracelets, curiously wrought and
interwoven with wampum.
Poligamy was practiced to some extent, though
mostly by the Chiefs. Maidens were allowed to sig-
nify their desire to enter matrimonial life, upon
which a marriage would be formally arranged;
widows and widowers were left to their own inclin-
ations.
In addition to the usual manifestations of grief
at the death of a relative or friend they cut off their
hair and burned it on the grave. Their dead were
usually interred in a sitting posture. It was usual
to place by the side of the body a pot, kettle, platter,
spoon, and provisions; wood was then placed around
the body and the whole was covered with earth and
stones outside of which pickets were erected, so that
the tomb resembled a little house. Their houses
were of the communal sort and differed usually only
in length; they were formed by long slender hickory
saplings set in the ground in a straight line in two
rows. The poles were then bent toward each other
in the form of an arch, and secured together at the
top giving the appearance of a garden arbor; the
sides and roof were then lathed with split poles and
over this bark was lapped and fastened by withes
to the lathing. A smoke hole was left in the roof
and a single doorway was provided. ‘These houses
rarely exceeded twenty feet in width, but they were
sometimes one hundred and eighty feet long. Their
so-called castles were strong, firm structures and
were situated usually on a steep, high, flat-topped
hill near a stream. The tip of the hill was inclosed
140
with a strong stockade having large logs for a
foundation on both sides of which oak posts form-
ing a pallisade were set in the ground, the upper
ends being crossed and joined together. Inside the
walls in such inclosures frequently were twenty or
thirty houses. Beside their strongholds they had
villages and towns, which were inclosed or stock-
aded and which usually had woodland on one side
and corn fields on the other. Their religious beliefs
were substantially the same as those of the New
England Indians. |
Barton gives the Mohicans three clans, Bear,
Wolf and Turtle’.
“Ts not the red man’s wigwam home
As dear to him as costly dome?
Is not his loved one’s smile as bright
As the dear ones of the men that’s white?
Freedom—this self same freedom you adore
Bids him defend his violated shore.”’
As Little Turtle, according to Indian custom,
probably received no advantage from his father’s
rank, he was not a Chief by descent. However,
great and active minds cannot remain at rest, and
his talents having attracted the notice of his fellow
tribesmen, he was made Chief of the Miamis while
a comparatively young man.
It has been said that the Sun of Indian glory set
with Little Turtle, and when Pontiac and Tecumseh
passed away, the clouds and shadows gathered
around their race in the starless night of death.
He was the noblest Roman of them all, for like
Pontiac thirty years before, he was the soul of fire.
Everyone who reads these pages, and the final
Treaty of GreeneVille; and of his upright walk in
later years, even to the day of his death, will be
impressed with his high courage and the manly
stand which he took for his race, and the hunting
grounds of his fathers.
Little Turtle was more of a traveler than gener-
ally believed. He was well acquainted at Detroit
Montreal and Quebec; was quite a sojourner at Chi-
141
cago and the northwest; had been to Louisiana and
several times to Philadelphia and Washington City;
and it is said, far to the south. It is claimed he
received a slight education from the priests in Can-
ada. No wonder that he became a rounded diplo-
mat and a polished gentleman. |
There seems to be conflicting statements in re-
gard to Little Turtle’s height. Mr. J. P. Dunn, a
noted authority, Secretary of Indiana Historical
Society, in his “True Indian Stories” published in
1909, says, “that he was small in stature’. His
authority on this subject is based on the statement
of Kil-so-quah alone, a granddaughter of the fam-
ous chief, who died in 1915, at one hundred and
five years of age, and who was a child a little over
two years old at the time of her grandfather’s death
July 14, 1812. While upon the other hand, John A.
McLung, in his sketches of “Western Adventure’,
published in 1836, at Dayton, Ohio, on page 262,
says, ‘““The leader of the Indian army at the time of
St. Clair’s defeat was a Chief of the Missassago
tribe, known by the name of Little Turtle. Not-
withstanding his name, he was at least six feet tall.
His aspect was harsh, sour and forbidding, and his
person during the action was arrayed in the very
extremity of Indian finery, having at least twenty
dollars’ worth of silver depending from his nose
and ears’. McLung here makes a positive state-
ment of his height and general aspect during the
battle, no doubt, from the lips of those men still
living at the time the book was written, who were
eye witnesses at the time of the battle.
Samuel C. Drake in his “Aboriginal Races of
North America’, page 575, published about 1838,
says that in his time he was generally styled the
Missassago Chief, and that his village was twenty
miles northwest of Fort Wayne; that a gentleman
who saw him after St. Clair’s defeat at Montreal
says, “He was six feet high, of a very sour and
morose countenance and apparently very crafty and
subtle’.
_ His dress consisted of moccasins, a blue petticoat
that came half way down his thighs, and an Euro-
142
pean waistcoat and curtout. His head was bound
with an Indian cap that hung half way down his
back and was almost entirely filled with plain silver
brooches to the number of more than two hundred.
He had two ear rings to each ear, the upper part of
each being formed of three silver medals about the
size of a dollar, the lower part of quarters of dol-
lars, which extended more than twelve inches from
his ears; one over his breast and the other over his
back. He also had three very large nose jewels of
silver that were curiously painted.
The witness who gave this account said this Chief
was in Canada for the purpose of raising all the
Indian force he could to go out again in the spring
against the whites.
Here we have the testimony of two competent
witnesses, McLung and Drake, as to Little Turtle’s
height, dress and general appearance which prac-
tically agrees as to his appearance when he was yet
comparatively a young man.
In Vol. 2, of Henry Howe’s “Historical Collec-
tions of Ohio’, page 226, we have the story of the
battle at the head of the Wabash, November 4, 1791,
by Major Jacob Fowler, who was present on that
occasion. Also on page 228, of same work by a Mr.
McDowell, both of whom were still living in 1846,
one at Covington, Ky., the other at or near the vil-
lage of Fort Recovery. This was ten years after
Drake and McLung had written the above state-
ments in regard to Chief Little Turtle and his phy-
sical makeup, and consequently must be a true nar-
rative of facts as they remain unrefuted by the par-
ticipants in that battle, as well as by all of the early
authorities.
Again we have Little Turtle’s picture in a paint-
ing by an officer in Wayne’s legion. This painting
was presented to the Chicago Historical Society by
Mr. LaVerne Noyes in 1914. It shows him stand-
ing in the midst of a group of white officials and
Indian Chiefs, in which he is the principal spokes-
man, and represents him to be as tall as the tallest
man in the entire group. We herewith present a
143
photograph from the original painting. On anoth-
er page is shown a cut of this distinguished war-
rior taken from a painting burned in Washington
in the War of 1812. It was always considered a
very good and correct picture of him. These two
pictures show a very marked similarity. The aqui-
line nose, piercing eyes, high cheek bones, peaked
chin and head dress all bear a striking similarity in
both, and impress one as being of the same man.
The headdress, the earrings, the features in both
leave no doubt as to the identity of Little Turtle
in the GreeneVille painting.
This Chieftain attained the zenith of his military
glory at the time of St. Clair’s defeat, and the zen-
ith of his statecraft and diplomacy at the Treaty of
GreeneVille. And a lover and benefactor of his
race to the day of his death he was never equalled
by any Indian that roamed the forests.
The Aboit river massacre; the humiliation of
_ Gen. Harmar, and his return to Fort Washington;
and the final defeat of St. Clair’s army on the Wa-
bash November 4, 1791, all added to the luster of
his name and when the inevitable came and his
power was broken at the battle of the Fallen Tim-
bers, like the true philosopher that he was, he real-
ized that further resistance to the white man would
be unavailing, and signed the Treaty of Greene-
Ville.
All of his subsequent life was interwoven with
the golden deeds of friendship and good will toward
all mankind, both white and red.
The temporary success of the Indians in several
engagements previous to the campaign of General
Wayne had kept alive their expiring hopes. But
their signal defeat by that gallant officer convinced
the more reflecting of their leaders of the desperate
character of the conflict.
After the Treaty of GreeneVille, he continued
faithful to its stipulations the remainder of his life.
From that day he ceased to be the enemy of the
white man, and, as he was not one who could act a
‘negative part, he became the firm ally and friend of
144
those against whom his tomahawk had been so long
raised in vindictive animosity. He was their friend
not from sympathy, or conviction but in obedience
to a necessity which left no middle course and under
a belief that submission alone could save his tribe
from destruction; and having adopted this policy,
his sagacity and sense of honor alike forbade a
recurrence either to open war or secret hostility.
He was the principal Chief of the Miami nation,
and possessed all the influence and authority which
are usually attached to that office at the period when
Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, commenced
hostilities against the United States.
When Tecumseh and the Prophet embarked in
their scheme for the recovery of the lands as far
south as the Ohio river it became their interest as
well as policy to enlist Little Turtle in the enter-
prise, and every effort which the genius of the one
and the cunning of the other could devise was
brought to bear upon him. But he remained faith-
ful to the Treaty he had signed at Fort GreeneVille.
When twenty-four years of age, we hear of him
with Burgoyne advancing from the north in his dis-
astrous campaign against Saratoga where he finally
surrendered to General Gates, October 17, 1777.
In this brief sketch it has been difficult to depict
in suitable language the noble attributes of charac-
ter, the sterling qualities of body, mind and soul
which Little Turtle possessed to a marked degree.
May peace be to his ashes, and may his spirit dwell
in the happy hunting grounds of the Indian race
forever.
“Tis weary watching wave by wave
And yet the tide heaves onward
We climb like corals grave by grave
But pave a path that’s sunward.
‘“We’ve beaten back in many a fray
But newer strength we borrow;
And where the vanguard camps today
The rear shall rest tomorrow.”
—Anonymous.
IX.
NOTES AND ANECDOTES.
After the Treaty of GreeneVille, Little Turtle
remained the true and faithful friend of the Amer-
icans and the new government, and was much be-
loved and respected by those who knew him.
Tecumseh strove hard to gain his confidence and
aid in his final determined struggle against the
white man a few years later, but all to no avail,
for nothing could move him from his set purpose
of peace and good will toward the Americans.
Early in 1797, accompanied by Captain Wells, his
son-in-law, Little Turtle visited President Washing-
ton at Philadelphia, where he met the philosopher
and famous traveler Volney, who was then in
America, who sought immediate acquaintance with
the celebrated Chief for highly valuable purposes
which in some measure he affected. He made a
vocabulary of his language, which he printed in the
appendix to his travels. A copy in manuscrint
more extensive than the printed one is said to be in
the library of the Philosophical Society of Pennsyl-
vania.
Having become convinced that all resistance to the
whites was in vain, Little Turtle brought his nation
to consent to peace and recommended them to adopt
agricultural pursuits. And it was with the view
of soliciting Congress and the benevolent Society
of Friends for assistance to effect this latter pur-
pose that he now visited Philadelphia. While here
he was inoculated for the small-pox and was also
afflicted with the gout and rheumatism.
At the time of Mr. Volney’s interview with him
for information he took no notice of the conversa-
tion while the interpreter was communicating with
Mr. Volney, for he did not understand English, but
walked about plucking out his beard and evebrows.
145
146
He was dressed now in English clothes. His skin
where not exposed Mr. Volney says, was as white
as his, and on speaking upon the subject Little Tur- —
tle said, “I have seen Spaniards in Louisiana, and
found no difference in color between them and me.
And why should there be any? In them as in us,
it is the work of the father of colors, the sun that
burns us. Your white people compare the color of
your face with that of your bodies’’.
Mr. Volney explained to him the notion of many,
that his race had descended from the Tartar’s and
by a map showed him the supposed communication
between Asia and America. To this Little Turtle
replied, “Why should not these Tartars who resem-
ble us have come from America? Are there any
reasons to the contrary, or why should we not both
have been born in our own country?” It is a fact
that the Indians accepted the name indigenous that
is one springing from the soil or natured to it.
When Mr. Volney asked Little Turtle what pre-
vented him from living among the whites, and if he
were not more comfortable in Philadelphia than
upon the banks of the Wabash, he said, “Taking
all things together, you have the advantage over us,
but here I am deaf and dumb. I do not talk your
language; I can neither hear nor make myself heard.
When I walk through the streets I see every person
in his shop employed about something; one makes
shoes; another hats, a third sells cloth and everyone
lives by his labor. I say to myself which of all of
these things can you do? Not one. I can make a
bow and arrow, catch fish, kill game and go to war,
but none of these are of any use here. To learn
what is done here would require a long time. Old
age comes on. I should be a piece of furniture use-
less to my nation, useless to the whites and useless
to myself. I must return to my own country”.
At the same time among other eminent person-
ages to whom this Chief became attached in Phil-
adelphia, was the renowned Kosciusko. This old
Polish Chief was so well pleased with Little Turtle
that when the latter went to take his final leave of —
147
him he presented Little Turtle with a favorite brace
of pistols, saying to him: “These pistols I have car-
‘ried and used on many a hard fought battlefield in
defense of the oppressed, the weak, the wronged of
my own race. I now present them to you with the
injunction that with them you shoot dead the first
man who ever comes to subjugate you or to despoil
you of your country”.
Whereupon, it is said, that Little Turtle walked
back and forth across the room much agitated, final-
ly dropping the remark in an undertone, “Let that
woman yet beware” (meaning Queen Catherine of
Russia). Then in speaking to Kosciusko said, ‘you
might have succeeded better in a love affair with
her, especially, if she was handsome’’.
On this same occasion Kosciusco also presented
him with an elegant robe made of sea otter skin
of the value of several hundred dollars, and with
a magnificent sword much to the delight of this
famous Chieftain.
Mr. Dawson relates a pleasant anecdote of Little
Turtle which happened while he was sitting for his
portrait in Philadelphia. A native of the Emerald
Isle, who prided himself upon his ability at joking
was sitting for his portrait at the same time. Lit-
tle Turtle was also an adept in the art of joking,
and they passed several meetings pleasantly twit-
ting each other. One morning Little Turtle did not
take much notice of his friend, but seemed rather
sedate, which was construed by the Hibernian as
an acknowledgment of victory on the part of the
Chief in their joking game, and accordingly he be-
gan to intimate as much. When Little Turtle un-
derstood him, he said to the interpreter, “He mis-
takes; I was just thinking of proposing to this man
to paint us both on one board and there I would
stand face to face with him and blackguard him
eternally”’.
It is believed that this Chief: had received some
education in Canada, and until the Treaty of
GreeneVille, was attached to British interests,
which interests seemed to find gratification in cul-
148
tivating in the savages a hatred of the Americans.
John Johnston, of Piqua, Ohio, who was well ac-
quainted with Little Turtle, said of this celebrated
orator and Chief, “that he was a man of great wit,
humor and vivacity, fond of the company of gen-
tlemen, and delighted in good eating. When I knew
him, he had two wives living with him, under the
same roof, in the greatest harmony.
Mrs. Callis, daughter of Judge Jouett, tells us
that her mother often spoke of the Chief, for whose
oratorical powers she had great admiration. She
particularly referred to a speech of that chief which
she heard delivered at a council held at Chicago.
A sentence of that speech is remembered; speaking
of an enemy upon which he (Little Turtle) had
taken deadly vengeance, he said, ‘““We met; I cut him
down; and his shade, as it passes on the wind,
shuns my walk”!
Little Turtle, who had somewhat of a remarkable
mind and was for a number of years the leading
spirit among the Miamis, was surpassed for bravery
and intelligence, perhaps by none of his race. He was
of an inquiring turn of mind and never lost an op-
portunity to gain some valuable information upon
almost every subject or object that attracted his at-
tention. He sought by every means in his power
during the latter days of his life to relieve his peo-
ple from every debasing habit, encouraging them
only in the more sober and industrious relations of
life.
Each evening he is said to have called the chil-
dren of the village together, telling them an amus-
ing story and giving them a short lecture abound-
ing in good advice, to learn to be industrious and to
shun strong drink.
It is said of Little Turtle, that he never was in-
toxicated, and did all in his power to keep his people
from strong drink. He urged the Indians to avoid
it by word and example, and gained the rare dis-
tinction of securing the first prohibition law against
the liquor traffic ever enacted by the United States
government. He visited the legislatures of Ohio
149
and Kentucky, as well as Congress, and begged for
the prohibition of intoxicating liquors among the
Indians. |
In a speech which was taken down in shorthand
at the time he denounced drink as a ruinous evil
that destroyed great numbers of his tribesman’s
lives; that caused the young men to say, “We had
better be at war with the white people, for this
liquor that they introduce into our country is more
to be feared than the gun and tomahawk.
“More of us have died since the Treaty of Greene-
‘Ville, than we lost by the years of war before, and it
is all owing to the introduction of this liquor among
ns};
In 1798, he traveled from his home in Indiana to
Philadelphia to plead with President John Adams
for protection for the Indians against the whiskey
traffic, telling him that liquor had destroyed three
thousand Indians alone during the preceding year.
However, he failed to secure any results at this
time. In 1801, he again visited the east and inter-
ested the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends in
behalf of his cause. The meeting appointed a com-
mittee to go with him to Washington to present the
matter to President Jefferson. The President
looked into the subject and sent a special message
(the first of the kind ever given) to Congress, em-
powering the President to take steps to eliminate
the traffic from the Indian country. ‘Thus Little
Turtle is the real father of the first prohibition law
ever enacted in this country.
In 1803, Little Turtle for the Miamis, and Five
Medals for the Pottawattomies, joined in a letter
to the Friends at Baltimore, in which they expressed
their pleasure, that the President had prevented the
traders from selling liquor to their people; and ex-
pressing their fears that he might again permit the
traffic to return to them. Adding, that if he does
our red brethren are lost forever. But at the same
time expressing the hope that the Great Spirit will
change the minds of our people and tell them that
150
it will be better for them to cultivate the earth
than to drink whiskey.
The following year 1804, a delegation from the
Baltimore Yearly Meeting was sent to Fort Wayne,
on a mission of amelioration to the Indians, and
there to meet both of these Chiefs.
Little Turtle was then but half well, as he said.
His complaint was then as usual the gout, and on
the interpreter telling him his complaint was one
that belonged to great folks and gentlemen, he said,
“T always thought that I was a gentleman”’.
At the general council called to meet this dele-
gation which assembled at Fort Wayne, April 10,
1804, the subject of teaching agriculture to the
Indians was the principal theme of discussion. Lit-
tle Turtle expressed regret that his people had not
accepted the idea of cultivating their lands, much as
he had tried to convince them of its necessity, and
his hope that the words of the Friends might turn
their minds. As an indication of the sagacity and
eloquence of Little Turtle his speech in reply to the
Quakers on this occasion is quoted in part herewith:
Speech of Little Turtle in Reply to an Address from
the Quakers, George Elliott and Gerard T. Hopkins.
“Brothers: It appears to me necessary that I
should give you an immediate answer, as you are
about to return to your families from whence you
came.
“Brothers and Friends: We are all pleased to
see you here, and to take our Brothers, the Quakers,
through you, by the hand. We rejoice that the
Great Spirit has appointed that we should this day
meet, for we believe this meeting will be of the ut-
most consequence to your red brethren.
“Brothers: What you have said we have care-
fully gathered up; we have placed it in our hearts,
in order that it may be communicated to our pos-
terity. We are convinced that what you have said
is for the good of your red brethren. We are also
convinced that our chiefs and warriors, our women
151
and children, will be all of our opinion, and will be
glad when they hear what you have said.
“Brothers: We take you by the hand, and
through you take the people who sent you, by the
hand, and assure you that we are pleased that the
Great Spirit has let us see each other, and con-
verse together upon the subjects that have been
communicated to us.
“Brothers: You see that there are but few of us
here; what you have said to us, will not remain with
the few that are here alone; it will be communicated
to all your red brethren in this country, and again
I repeat that I am convinced that they will be glad
to hear what you have said to us, to our women and
children.
“Brothers: When we saw you with the rest of
your brethren in Baltimore upward of two years
ago, I presume you recollect perfectly the conversa-
tion between us at that time and place. I then,
with my Brother Chiefs, told you that we were glad
to find you so much disposed to assist us, our wom-
en and children; we told you that your good wishes
should be made known to all your red brethren in
this country, which has been done.
“Brothers: Ever since that time, I, as well as
some others of my Brother Chiefs, have been en-
deavoring to turn the minds of our people toward
the cultivation of the earth, but am sorry to say we
have not yet been able to effect anything.
“Brothers: There are so few of us here pres-
ent, we could not now undertake to give you any
positive answer; we expect in a few moons, there
will be many of our people together. At that time
it will be proper that we should give you an answer
to all the subjects you now mention to us.
“Brothers: The things you have said to us re-
quire our greatest attention. It appears to be really
necessary that we should deliberate upon them. In
order to do so we must beg you to leave the paper on
which they were written, that we may communi-
cate them to the Chiefs when they assemble.
“Brothers: All the words you said today, were
152
certainly calculated for our good. You have enu-
merated to us the different kinds of grains and ani-
mals we ought to raise for our comfort. You have
told us that if we all adopt the plan you have pro-
posed, we shall want for nothing. This Brothers,
myself and many of our people believe is true, and
we hope we shall finally be able to convince our
young men that this is the plan we should adopt to
get our living.
“Brothers: You have come a long distance to
render service to us; we hope you will meet with the
success you wish. You have been very particular
in pointing out to us what will be for our good; you
have been very particular in pointing out the duties
of our women, and you have told us that in adopt-
ing your mode of living, our numbers would in-
crease and not diminish. In all this I perfectly
agree with you, and hope all the Chiefs will also
agree with you.
“Brothers: We are pleased to hear you say you
are going to leave one of your Brothers with us, to
show us in what manner you cultivate the earth.
We shall endeavor, Brothers, to make his situation
among us as agreeable to him as will be possible for
us.
“Brothers: We are convinced the plan you pro-
pose will be advantageous to your red brethren. We
are convinced you have observed very justly, that
we shall not then be so liable to sickness. We are
certain we shall then ke able to make a more com-
fortable living with less labor than at present, and
hope this will be the opinion of us all.
“Brothers: I again repeat, I am extremely glad
to hear the things you have said, and that we will
keep them in our hearts for the good of our young
men, our women and our children. IJ have now de-
livered to you the sentiments of our people that are
present.”
(After a short pause he added.)
“Brothers: Assure vour people who have sent
you here, tell your old Chiefs we are obliged to them
for their friendly offers to assist us in changing our
153
present mode of living. Tell them it is a work
which cannot be done immediately, that we are all
that way disposed and we hope it will take place
gradually.”
(Sitting down a short space, he rises again.)
“Brothers: My heart is so overjoyed and warm
with what you have said, that I forgot to mention
one of the most important things. At the time we
first met at this place, the Medals and myself
formed some idea of your business; we expected
you had come to do for us the things you proposed
to us when in Baltimore, and consulted each other
upon the answer necessary to return to you in every
respect, and now find our idea was right. Broth-
ers, the sentiments which I have delivered to you,
were his sentiments. You have now told us that
your Brother has a mind to live among us, to show
us how to cultivate the earth, and has desired us
to show him the spot where to begin. We agreed
then that he should be at neither of our villages,
lest our younger Brothers should be jealous of our
taking him to ourselves. We have determined to
place him on the Wabash, where some of our fami-
lies will follow him; where our young men, I hope,
will flock to him, and where he will be able to in-
struct them as he wishes. This is all I have to say.
I could all day repeat the sentiments I have already
expressed; also, how much I have been gratified
in seeing and hearing from our Brothers, but that
is not necessary. I am sorry the Chiefs of our
country are not all present, that they might all hear
what you have said, and have an opportunity to
talk with you.”
This speech of Little Turtle is copied from a manu- ©
script found among the papers of Judge Jouett, for-
merly Indian Agent at Chicago, by whom it was
preserved since the time of its delivery, something
over three score years ago. It seems proper that this
speech should not be lost; and though it may seem
to the reader prolix and tame, lacking the fire and
passion that we usually expect in the speech of an
Indian orator, yet the subject matter was one of
154
peace, and refers to the comparatively quiet and
dull life of civilization. The speaker, however, be-
lieved it involved the best interests of his people.
A friend named Philip Dennis had agreed to re-
main, intending to live among them to teach them
practical farming. Little Turtle explained that the
other Chiefs and himself had agreed that it should
be at neither of their villages, “lest our younger
brothers should be jealous of our taking him to
ourselves. We have determined to place him on
the Wabash where some of our families will follow
him, and where he will be able to instruct as he
wishes.” The point thus selected for the first agri-
cultural college established in the west was a little
below Huntington, at a place called the Boat Yards,
from the fact that General Wilkinson had built
some flat boats there to transfer baggage and mate-
rial down the river.
The experiment was not a success, and Dennis
found by experience that Little Turtle’s misgivings
in regard to the industry of the young men were
fully verified. After he had inclosed his farm only
one or two of the Red Men evinced any dis-
position to labor. They would take a seat on the
fence or in the trees near his work and watch with
apparent interest, his plowing and hoeing, but with-
out offering to lend a helping hand. Becoming dis-
couraged Dennis left in the fall and abandoned the
first attempt to teach the savage the arts of peace.
Jared Mansfield held the important position of
Surveyor General of the United States, and was
located at Cincinnati for nine years, from 1804 to
1813, when his son E. D. Mansfield was yet quite
a boy. The manner of his appointment and the
work that he performed will illustrate his character
and introduce a small but interesting chapter of
events in the life of Little Turtle. Mansfield had
formerly taught mathematics in New Haven, Conn.,
where he had several pupils, who afterward became
famous, among whom were Abraham and Harry
Baldwin. The former was afterward United States
Senator from Georgia; the latter Judge of the Su-
155
preme Court of the United States. While Jared
Mansfield was teaching, he published a book, entit-
led “Essays on Mathematics”. It was an original
work, and but few copies were sold for there were
but few men in the country who could understand
it. The book, however, established his reputation
as a man of science and greatly influenced his after-
life. Abraham Baldwin was at that time Senator
from Georgia, and brought this book to the notice
of President Jefferson, who was fond of science and
of scientific men. 'The consequence was that he was
appointed chief engineer and teacher of cadets at
West Point. He was there about a year, when he »
received an appointment to a new and more arduous
field in the west. Mr. Jefferson had been but a
short time in office when he became aware of the
fact that the public surveys were going wrong, for
the accuracy of the surveys depended upon estab-
lished meridian lines with base lines at right angles
to them. The surveyors at that time could not run
these lines accurately. By Senator Baldwin’s fur-
ther recommendation Mr. Mansfield was appointed
Surveyor General, and was located at Marietta for
two years, and afterward in 1805, in Cincinnati.
In his personal memoirs written later in life his
son, E. D. Mansfield, gives us an interesting account
of the old Northwest, and of some of the most strik-
ing characters both men and women, who made its
history. Among these were the ‘Queen of the Fairy
Isle’, Mrs. Blennerhasset. who deserved a better
fate than that which befell her. That lady had a
spectacular career, her name becoming a theme of
poetry and eloquence. Another of the noted char-
acters who was never forgotten by Mr. Mansfield,
was that matchless and dignified figure which
stands out on the historical canvass in bold relief
—Little Turtle, Chief of the Miamis, the polished
gentleman, the great Indian statesman of his time.
It was the duty of the Surveyor General to run
the GreeneVille Treaty line, which was still unfin-
ished, a few years after the signing of the treaty of
peace at GreeneVille. About 1806, Little Turtle
156
called at the Surveyor General’s office in Cincinnati
to arrange for the above survey.
Mr. E. D. Mansfield says, concerning this oc¢a-
sion: ‘One day a dark complexioned man with
swarthy countenance, riding a very fine horse, dis-
mounted at our house, and went into my father’s
office. I wanted to go in and see him, but for some
reason was not allowed to. After some time I saw
him come out, mount his horse and ride rapidly
away. I was struck by the appearance of the man
and asked my mother, ‘“‘Who is that man?” She
said, “That is Little Turtle, the great Miami
Chief”. As Little Turtle rode away from the house
in the declining sun, Mansfield might, without any
violent stretch of imagination, have seemed to see
one of the last Great Spirits of the Indian race
leaving the land of his fathers, probably looking
for the last time upon the beautiful valley of the
Miami, and bidding farewell to each hill, wood and
stream.
This incident more fully illustrates Little Turtle’s
constant care and vigilance for the well being of his
race, and, displays his loyalty to the Americans as
well.
In 1807, Little Turtle again visited Baltimore,
and Washington, D. C., accompanied by Richard-
ville and other Chiefs. He desired to have a flour
mill erected at Fort Wayne, and appeared earnestly
desirous of promoting the interests of his people.
Hs is mentioned as having an indescribable coun-
tenance, and being possessed of a very orderly dis-
position. On this visit he was entertained with
other Chiefs at the house of a former friend. He
was the first to enter the parlor, bowing gracefully,
as he was introduced to the family, and in a short
address gratefully acknowledging the pleasure at
meeting the wife and children of his friend.
In dignity of appearance he exceeded all his com-
panion Chiefs—a dignity which resulted from the
character of his mind. He was above the medium
stature, with a complexion of the palest copper
shade, and did not use paint. His hair was worn
157
full and had no admixture of grey. He was then
dressed in a coat of blue cloth, with gilt buttons,
pantaloons of the same color, and buff waistcoat,
and, together with the other Chiefs, wore leggings
and moccasins, and had gold rings in his ears. This
dress was completed by a long red military sash
around the waist and a cocked hat surmounted by
a red feather. On entering the house he imme-
diately removed his hat and carried it under his
arm. Altogether he was graceful and agreeable to
an uncommon degree and was admired by all who
made his acquaintance. |
Little Turtle was fond of telling of his war ad-
ventures. One anecdote he used to relate with
much gusto concerning an occasion on which he
himself had been outwitted. “A white man’, said
he, ‘‘a prisoner of many years in the tribe, had often
solicited permission to go on a war party and had
been refused. It never was the practice of the
Indians to ask or encourage white prisoners among
them to go to war against their countrymen. This
white man, however, had so far won the confidence
of the Indians, and being very importunate I took
him on an expedition to Kentucky. As was our prac-
tice, we had carefully reconnoitered and had fixed on
a house recently built as the one to be attacked the
next morning about the dawn of day. The house was
surrounded by a clearing, there being much brush
and fallen timber on the ground. At the appointed
time the Indians, with the white man, began to move
to the attack. At all such times no talking or noise.
is to be made. They crept along on their hands and
feet. Allis done by signs by the leader. The white
man all the time was striving to be foremost while
the Indians were beckoning him to keep back. In
spite of all their efforts he would keep ahead, and
having at last got within running distance of the
house he jumped to his feet and went with all his
speed, shouting at the top of his voice, ‘Indians!
Indians’! We had to make a precipitated retreat,
losing forever our white companion and disappoint-
ed in our fancied conquest of the log cabin. From
158
that day I would never trust a white man to ac-
company me again in war.”
The last public speech ever made by Chief Little
Turtle was at Fort Wayne, January 25, 1812, to
William Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Ter-
ritory. In this last address he refers to the Battle
of Tippecanoe, fought on the morning of the sey-
enth of the previous November.
The original address will be found in General
Harrison’s memoirs. Mr. Dawson, the compiler of
these memoirs, quoted in introducing this address,
says, “The talk received from Little Turtle which so
feelingly deplores the consequence of the late ac-
tion, also appears to allude to the gathering storm
that broke out in June following, when the United
States made a formal declaration of war against
Great Britain. This information Little Turtie must
have had from some communion with private par-
ties to himself or the British agents.”
This speech is given as another relic of that ex-
traordinary genius who was fated not long to sur-
vive it. The disease with which he had been afflict-
ed at first now become chronic, and leaving his vil-
lage he came to Fort Wayne to be treated by the
United States army surgeon. It shortly became
past all control and he died on the 14th of July,
1812.
Little Turtle’s speech to General Harrison is re-
ported as follows:
“My Friend Harrison: I have been requested by
my nation to speak to you and I obey their request
with pleasure because I believe their situation re-
quires all the aid I can afford them. When your
speech by Mr. Duboise was received by the Miamis,
they answered it, and I made known to you their
opinion at the time. Your letter to William Wells
of the 23d of November last has been explained to
the Miami and Eel River tribes of Indians.
“My friend, although neither of these tribes of
Indians have had anything to do with the late un-
fortunate affair, which happened on the Wabash, still
they all rejoice to hear you say that if those foolish
159
Indians would return to their several homes and
remain quiet, that they would be pardoned and
again received by the President as his children.
“We believe there are none of them that will be
so foolish as not to accept of this friendly offer;
while at the same time I assure you that nothing
shall be wanting on my part to prevail on them to
accept it.
“All of the Prophet’s followers have left him with
the exception of two camps of his own tribe. Te-
cumseh has just joined him with eight men only.
No danger can be apprehended from them at pres-—
ent. Our eyes will be constantly kept on them, and
should they attempt to gather strength again we
will do all in our power to prevent it, and at the
same time give you immediate information of their
intentions.
“We are sorry that the peace and friendship
which so long existed between the Red Men and
the white people could not be preserved without the
loss of so many good men as fell on both sides in the
late action on the Wabash; but we are satisfied that
it will be the means of making that peace which
ought to exist between us more respected, both by
the red men and the white people. We have lately
been told by different Indians from this country to
visit you. This we will do with pleasure when
you give us information of it in writing.
“My friend, the clouds appear to be rising in a
different quarter, which threatens to turn our light
into darkness. To prevent this it may require the
united efforts of us all. We hope that none of us
will be found to shrink from the storm that threat-
ens to burst on our nations. I am your friend
(Mishecanoquah or Little Turtle) representing the
Miami and Eel River tribes of Indiana.”
The influence of this great Chieftain did not cease
with his death, for we are informed that the Coun-
cil of Shawnees, Miamis, Wyandots, Delawares and
Senecas at Piqua, Ohio, in August, 1812, was largely
influenced by the attitude of Little Turtle and Black
160
Hoof, and these tribes decided to remain neutral
during the war and to congregate at upper Piqua
under the control of the government agent, Col.
Johnston. It is said that from 6,000 to 10,000 In-
dians congregated at this point from 1812 to 1815
and, with few exceptions, remained faithful to the
American’s cause.
Even the enemies of Little Turtle paid a solemn
tribute to his memory. His remains were interred
about the center of the old orchard, with all his
adornments, implements of war, a sword presented
to him by General Washington, together with a
medal with the likeness of Washington thereon,
probably the one given to him at Greenville.
All these objects were laid by the side of the body
and hidden beneath the sod in one common grave.
It is said that one Mr. J. P. Hedges and others
knew the exact spot up to about 1860. Mentioning
the orchard in the center of which Little Turtle was
buried calls to mind the historic renown of the
famous old apple tree of more recent years, which
stood alone a silent historic memento of years gone
by, revered by both white and red men. It was out
of this tree that an Indian, during the siege of Fort
Wayne in 1812, was shot by one of the soldiers from
the fort at a distance of many hundred yards. In
an exulting spirit one of the besiegers was in the
habit of climbing the tree each day for several days
and throwing his arms much like the rooster flaps
his wings when crowing, would utter a noise very
much like this fowl. This challenge was finally
answered by the crack of a double-charged rifle
from the fort and the Indian was seen to fall.
This tree has long since died and fallen to the
ground, and remains only in the distant memory of
the older citizens of Allen county, and the city of
Fort Wayne.
We here introduce four stanzes of an ode to the
old apple tree:
oe
161
“There’s an apple tree near the wild wood
No lovelier place on the river St. Joe,
No spot so dear to my childhood
The murmur of waters below;
Its tones so sweetly are calling,
O come to the old apple tree you know.
“How sweet in the springtime morning,
To list to the birds in the dell
All sweetly calling, O come to the river St. Joe,
Where the Indian warrior and maiden belle
Meet beneath the moonlight shade
Of the apple tree so long ago.
“There close by the tree in the valley lies
A warrior Chieftain sleeping well;
He sleeps, sweetly sleeps ’neath the willow,
Disturb not his rest in the vale;
Chief Little Turtle now lies on his pillow
Beneath the village of Lawton Dale.
“Chief Richardville in youth did play
Where wild flowers bloomed on the river St. Joe;
The farewell hymn was chanted in morning grey
O where is the wigwam on the river St. Joe?
The Turtle, Richardville and Wells you say
The wild wood and apple tree gone long, long ago.”’
Brice tells us that Little Turtle died in his lodge
or camp at the old orchard, a short distance north
of the confluence of the St. Marys and St. Joseph,
in the yard fronting the house of his son-in-law,
Captain William Wells. He had suffered for many
months previous with the gout and came here from
his place of residence at Little Turtle Town, on Blue
river, to be treated as above mentioned, by the army
surgeon.
It was a solemn and interesting occasion, in the
language of one who was present at his burial. His
body was borne to the grave with the highest hon-
ors by his once great enemies, the white man. The
162
muffied drum, the solemn march, the funeral salute,
announced that a great diplomat and soldier had
fallen.
We are informed by Mr. J. M. Stouder, who had
been a lifelong citizen of Fort Wayne, that his
winding sheet was a green blanket of beautiful
design, and that the funeral oration was delivered
by Chief Coessie, a grandson.
Little Turtle signed the following treaties with
the United States: Grenville, August 38, 1795;
Fort Wayne, June 17, 1803; Vincennes, August
21, 1805; and the last Fort Wayne, September 30,
1809.
From the time he signed the Treaty of Greene-
Ville, which was the most important, he lived in
amity with and was a steadfast friend of the Amer-
ican people.
The whole week of June 5th to 10th, 1916, was
devoted to the celebration of the first centennial
year of Indiana, at Fort Wayne. A few weeks be-
fore this occasion the Daughters of the American
Revolution had placed a huge boulder, with a
bronze tablet attached on the north bank of the
Maumee at the intersection of Edgewater avenue
and Dearborn streets, in commemoration of the
American soldiers who lost their lives at this his-
toric spot, Harmar’s ford where Chief Little Tur-
tle defeated the troops under command of Josiah
Harmar in 1790. The unveiling ceremonies were
held on Thursday afternoon, June 8, 1916. Ex-
president Taft spoke from an automobile making
a brief address in which he commended the above
organization for its work in marking historic spots
for future generations.
Mrs. James B. Crankshaw, Regent, presided at
the ceremonies. ‘‘The Star Spangled Banner” was
rendered by the Elks’ Band. Mrs. Henry A. Beck,
of Indianapolis, State Regent of the D. A. R., spoke
briefly after the unveiling. Hundreds of school
children joined in singing on ‘this occasion. Ex-
Mayor Robert B. Hanna, of Fort Wayne, delivered
the unveiling address.
ee.
163
We here call attention to the fact, that the re-
mains of Little Turtle lie without a sufficient mark,
on the private grounds of Dr. Gillie, Lawton place,
and hope that arrangements will soon be made by
Mech a suitable monument will mark this historic
spot.
To the honor of all true born Americans, a grate-
ful government has recently paid a just debt of love
and esteem to the heroes who died on the battle-
SOLDIERS MONUMENT, FT. RECOVERY, O.
field of Fort Recovery by erecting and unveiling
on July 1, 1913, a granite shaft one hundred and
one and one-half feet high, with a base thirty-five
feet square. A heroic figure typifying the early
scout and settler, stands on the northern side of
the shaft. The figure is nine feet high, and is one
of the most impressive features of the monument
With face stern and unyielding, foot and leg strid-
ing forward, flintlock and powder horn in hand, it
164
seems to be ever advancing toward the great north-
west of which this region was once typical. It
represents the conquest of the northwest, the pro-
gress of the nation and the advancement of civiliza-
tion. Above all it commemorates the lives which
were sacrificed that all this might be achieved and
seems to cast over all surroundings the calm and
quiet of a benediction.
PIONEER SOLDIER
At Base of Fort Recovery Monument
The dedication of this shaft took place on the one
hundred and nineteenth anniversary of Little Tur-
tle’s second attack on Fort Recovery, and in the one
hundred and twenty-second year after the first bat-.
tle. This monument is composed of North Carolina
granite, and was erected through an appropriation
by the general government of twenty-five: thousand
dollars ($25,000) secured by the personal efforts of
Congressman W. E. Touville.
165
In the month of January, Little Turtle warned
General Harrison by a messenger, of the signs of
an approaching war with Great Britain, expressing
for himself his attachment to the government of the
United States.
It seems that shortly after his death, a part of the
Miamis, at least were inclined to adhere to the
British and to show signs of hostility, so much so
that General Harrison was compelled to order Col-
onel Simrall with a regiment of dragoons, number-
ing three hundred and twenty men, and a company
VIEW OF DEVIL’s LAKE
Showing landscape scenery within one hundred and fifty yards of the site
where Little Turtle was born in 175% Devil’s Lake near view and
glimpse of Blue River in distance.
of mounted riflemen under Colonel Farrow to de-
stroy Little Turtle’s town, on Blue river, with strict
orders not to molest the buildings formerly erected
by the United States for the benefit of Little Turtle,
whose friendship for the Americans had ever been
firm after the Treaty of GreeenVille. Colonel Sim-
rall having performed the task assigned him on the
evening of the 19th, returned to the fort. The
house built by the government for Little Turtle was
thus preserved.
166
The writer has often talked with an old trapper
and hunter, by the name of William Gaff, who died
about 1867. This old trapper had frequently
camped for several weeks at a time twenty or twen-
ty-five years before in the famous Little Turtle
house shortly after all the Indians had left. He
said that he had drunk water out of an old gourd
from the spring at the foot of the hill. And I
myself quite well remember when yet a boy,
about 1863, seeing the old rusty nail driven in an
oak tree nearby for the purpose of hanging the
drinking vessel.
“Deserted was his own good hall
His hearth was desolate.
Wild weeds had gathered on the wall
The wolf howled at the gate.”
—Byron.
Forest and prairie fires finally destroyed the last
vestige of all Indian remains, and Little Turtle’s
village became a thing of the past.
“Away those winged years have flown to gain the
mass of ages gone.”
About 1839, a number of the Miamis with other
tribes were taken west by way of Cincinnati, and
the Ohio river. They stopped at Greenville long
enough to pay a last visit of respect to the old home
of Tecumseh and the Prophet. In this connection
a strange incident was related by one Mr. Stephen
Hiland, an old gentleman, who still lived in Green-
ville, Ohio, in 1880, but had been a citizen of Ham-
ilton county, Ohio, in early days. He stated, that
when the Indians saw the tomb of General Harrison
at North Bend, and learned that it was the grave of
the old hero of Tippecanoe they at once expressed a
desire to land and pay a last tribute of respect to
the departed dead. This privilege being granted
they assembled around the tomb kneeling and utter-
ing words in their native tongue, after which they
arose and resumed their journey.
167
The interpreter afterward informed the command-
ing officer, that what the Indians said in substance at
the tomb of General Harrison was this, “Farewell
Ohio, and your bravest warrior.”
“Adieu to the graves where my forefathers rest
For I must be going to the far distant west;
I’ve sold my possessions my heart fills with woe
To think I must leave them. Alas I must go.
“Farewell ye tall oaks in whose pleasant green shade
In childhood I sported in innocence played;
My dog and my hatchet, my arrows and bow
Are still in remembrance! Alas I must go.
‘“‘Adieu ye loved scenes which binds me like chains
Where on my gay pony I chased o’er the plains.
The deer and the turkey I tracked in the snow
But now I must leave them. Alas I must go.
“Adieu to the trails which for many a year
I traveled to spy the turkey and deer.
The hills, trees and flowers that pleased me so
I must now leave. Alas I must go.”
—Anonymous.
Little Turtle’s name was spelled and also pro-
nounced in different ways, but at the Treaty of
GreeneVille, it was spelled Me-she-kin-no-quah.
Mr. J. P. Dunn, author of “True Indian Stories,”’
says, “this name was commonly known as the Little
Turtle, but that is not what his name means. Lit-
erally it means, the Great Turtle’s wife, but it is not
in that sense that it applied to this great chief.
The Miamis have specific names for the most
common turtle; At-che-pong, for snapping turtle;
Ah-koot-yak for the soft shelled turtle; We-weet-
chah for the box turtle; and Me-she-kin-no-quah
for the painted terrapin. This last is the most com-
mon of all the turtles in this region, and the most
gaudily colored, which probably explains its Indian
168
name for who should be handsome, if not the wife
of the Great Turtle, who typifies the earth and was
the Chief beneficient Manitou of the Algonquin
tribes in the olden times. But when it came to
translation, the interpreters knew no specific Eng-
lish name for the painted terrapin, which is a little
turtle, never growing more than four or six inches
across. They conveyed the idea as well as they
could by saying, The Little Turtle.
The Little Turtle might have been a puny infant,
which may account for his name for a more sprawl-
ing, helpless looking creature than a newly hatched
painted terrapin can hardly be imagined. More
than likely Mr. Dunn here gives this word the
proper translation, as he has given the Indian vo-
cabulary much study.
X.
BURIAL PLACE.
Little Turtle was thirty-nine years old at the
time of St. Clair’s defeat, and sixty years old at
the time of his death. It seems that his grave had
become lost to all human knowledge and that the
most diligent search in recent times had failed to
locate the exact place of his burial. Thus after
sleeping in an unknown grave for a number of years
in the vicinity of his former glory, his remains were
accidentally found July 4th, 1911.
Two brothers, Albert and Charles Lockner, who
had contracted to build a house for Dr. George W.
Gillie, in Lawton Place, lot 28, Fort Wayne, Ind.,
near the west bank of the St. Joseph river, while
engaged in excavating the cellar, uncovered the sup-
posed remains of the great Miami War Chief.
We herewith give the account of the finding of
the grave as related by Mr. J. M. Stouder, of whom
we will have more to say later.
About a month after this find had been made, Mr.
Stouder had occasion to visit the house of Albert
Lockner and asked to see the Indian relics that he
knew he had in his possession, as he always was
interested in such discoveries. He was immediately
struck by the apparent wealth and importance of
the find, and began an investigation as to the iden-
tity of the remains of the person in the grave.
Early in his research he became convinced that
Albert and Charles Lockner and Dr. Gillie had dis-
covered the grave of Little Turtle. He says, “that
he was greatly indebted to Miss Eliza Rudisell, Mr.
Howard Hanthorne and Mr. Chas. Warden for the
assistance they gave him in identifying the grave
of the greatest Chief of his time.
The date of the discovery will hereafter be of
interest to the citizens of Fort Wayne, and Allen
169
170
‘ouLBM WOW ‘90V[q UOIMBT
GHAVAS S ATLANAL ATLLIT WOT GHOMS S,NOLONIHSVM
171
county, Indiana, and indeed to all persons interested
in the early settlement of the Northwest Territory.
The Lockner brothers soon found a number of
Indian skeletons in digging out the cellar, which
was no doubt the last burying ground of the Miamis,
at Fort Wayne. Noticing that whatever was in
the graves was appropriated by laborers, the con-
tractors called off the crew and with the assistance
of Dr. Gillie, proceeded to finish the cellar and to
dig the drain for the same. In this cellar drain the
grave of Little Turtle was found. The finders had
no idea of the identity of the body. About the neck
of the Chief was found the string of silver beads;
the hair was also tied with a buckskin thong and
from the description by the Lockner brothers was
well preserved. The vermillion plate was beneath
the Chieftain’s knees, the silver armlets on his arms,
and the anklets; and the famous sword, guns and
remnants of pistols were at his side. The various
other implements had been placed in different parts
of the grave, and had probably become disarranged
in the digging of the drain. On the breast were
the silver disks believed to be medals. They were
fastened together by means of a buckskin thong,
and are shown in the collection just as they were
found. The articles taken from the grave are as
follows: Eight silver bracelets; two silver anklets;
one heavy metal bracelet; three silver medals; four
silver brooches; one pair of silver ear ring’s; six pen-
dants; one string of silver beads; twenty-three sil-
ver crosses, each one inch long; one sword, which
we are certain is that presented to the Chief by
General Washington; one string of white silver
beads; four metal buttons; one small pocket knife;
one large clasp knife, of good design; one drinking
cup; one metal spoon; one pair of shears; one ham-
mer; one gun barrel from which rotten portions of
the stock fell when lifted from the grave; one pair
of bullet molds; one flint lock; the remains of a pis-
tol; three large knives; one pair of steel spurs; one
ax; one tomahawk, and copper kettle containing
172
when found, beans and corn, which went to a fine
powder when exposed to the air.
I am satisfied that the grave of no ordinary In-
dian would have contained this costly and various
display of riches and that this is undoubtedly an ac-
FROM LITTLE TURTLE’S GRAVE
Lawton Place, Fort Wayne.
cidental and genuine find of the remains of Little
Turtle.
I myself have examined this collection very
carefully, now in possession of Mr. J. M. Stouder,
a short time afterward, having gone to Fort Wayne
for this purpose in rather a skeptical turn of mind
173
as to the genuineness, but must now say that after
the most critical examination we are fully satisfied
that this without dobut was the grave of Little Tur-
tle, and that these were his relics buried with him.
W. D. Schiefer, of the Schiefer Shoe Store says,
that while he resided on the old Barnett place in
FROM LITTLE TURTLE’S GRAVE
Lawton Place, Fort Wayne.
1875, a man named Hedges, who had been present
at the burial of Little Turtle had pointed out to him
the exact location of the grave as well as he could
remember without any suggestions from any one.
Although he had not been in the locality since Spy
Run had been laid out, he located the spot within
174
one hundred feet of the place where the grave was
uncovered.
Too much credit cannot be given Mr. J. M.
Stouder, a hardware dealer at 122 East Columbia
street, Fort Wayne, Ind., who identified the grave
and its remains, purchased and preserved the relics
and marked the spot at his own expense for all time.
In justice to historical facts relating to the find,
and the identity of this long lost grave, it is said,
“Mr. Stouder is an almost life long citizen of
Fort Wayne; that he is regarded by his fellow
townsmen as a straightforward, upright, enterpris-
ing citizen. Heis a member of high standing in the
Free Mason Lodge, highly esteemed by all who know
him”’.
This discovery is regarded as genuine by the peo-
ple of Fort Wayne and vicinity, as well as by all
scientific and historical experts who have seen fit
to investigate it. From the array of the various
implements and ornaments found in Little Turtle’s
grave we find he was buried according to the time
honored customs that prevailed with the North
American Indians. The idea was universal with
them of the happy hunting ground, and of what-
ever was essential to an existence here would also
be a necessity in that great and glorious future life,
where all kinds of game was abundant, where the
forests were always green and the waters sparkling
clear and bright. These hunting grounds were set
apart by the Great Spirit as their future abode.
They lay beyond the western ocean. Here there
were no extremes of heat and cold, wet and drought;
no one suffered disease; and age and infirmity were
unknown; all fruits of the earth grew in abundance,
without needing cultivation, and the woods were
filled with every description of game. The trees
were so tall in this country that their branches
seemed to penetrate the heavens bearing company
with the stars. Everything in this favored region
was endowed with eternal life and unfading beauty;
175
and here the Indian was to be the sole possessor,
undisturbed by the cruel and avaricious white man.
“No fiends torment
No Christians thirst for gold.”
William Geakie, of the city of Fort Wayne, has
in his possession in his safe vault in the First
National Bank the gold watch that belonged to
FACE OF LITTLE TURTLE’S WATCH. BACK OF LITTLE TURTLE’S WATCH.
Little Turtle’s watch, willed to William Geake by George Richardville
Godfrey while on his deathbed at Hope Hospital, Fort Wayne. On the
back of this watch are engraved the initials of John Richardville Godfrey,
who married into Little Turtle’s family and beceme a Chief.
Little Turtle, and was worn by him for many years.
The watch is beautiful in design and workmanship.
It was purchased in England at a cost of approxi-
mately four hundred dollars ($400.00) was pre-
sented to the Chief by the British during the time
the English government was currying the favor and
agitating the Indians in uprisings against the New
Republic. It was a bribe both pure and simple, con-
ceived by the duplicity of English statesmen.
176
At the death of Little Turtle the watch became
the property of the succeeding Chief and went on
down the line of the successive leaders of the tribe
until it reached George Godfrey, whose father was
the last red Chief of the Miamis in this section of
the country.
George Godfrey, who lived on the reservation
south of the city, became ill of a complication of
diseases. Seven years ago he was brought to the
Hope Hospital for treatment, his condition was
hopeless and he realized that he could not recover.
He had become a member of the Masonic Lodge
many years before at the request of Mr. Geakie,
who was one of his closest friends, a member of the
Scottish Rite, a Knight Templar and a Shriner.
Two weeks before his death came he urged Mr.
Geakie, who was his daily visitor at the hospital,
to accept the watch as a last token of friendship.
For several years it had been locked in the safe at
the Dallas and Green Jewelry Store. When Mr.
Geakie toured Europe several years ago he took the
watch with him, and one of the most noted jewelers
in London cleaned and repaired the timepiece.
Though nearly one hundred and fifty years old the
watch still keeps perfect time.
Robert Koerber, of Trenkley and Koerber Jewelry
Company, was shown the watch. He at once became
very much interested, recognizing it as one of the
rare old English makes. He took the numbers of
the case and works and the name of the makers,
Motobis & Company, Liverpool, England. On the
back of the watch are engraved the initials of John
Richardville Godfrey, who married into Little Tur-
tle’s family, and became a Chief.
The watch is now held as a priceless relic, by Wil-
liam Geakie, of Fort Wayne.
“His was the broad and grand domain;
The hills and vales, the sweep of plain,
The hunting grounds, the rivers wide—
They all belonged before he died
- To the wild Indian.
“The rivers murmur words he gave.
The mountains all the echoes save
The woods hold music of his voice
Their names were given by the choice
Of the wild Indian.
“T drove him from this fair estate
From east to west with endless hate
At last he lay beneath my tread
Brave son of forests, stark and dead.
The wild Indian.”’
LUELLA D. SMITH, Hudson, N. Y.
178
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WILLIAM WELIS
XI.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM WELLS.
CAPTIVE AND SCOUT.
The name of William Wells is closely asso-
ciated with one of the most distinguished families of
the Miami nation—his life and that of Little Turtle
being so interwoven with the history of the tribe
that we deem it fitting to give a brief sketch of his
career in this place.
There seems to be no authentic record of his birth
and parentage but at the age of eleven years he was
captured by a predatory band of Miami Indians
while living with the family of Hon. Nathaniel Pope
near Louisville, Kentucky. Going through the In-
dian rite of formal adoption, he lived to manhood
among the Miamis and became a valuable inter-
preter on numerous occasions between them and the
whites. He early became a favorite in his adopted
tribe and received the name of “Blacksnake’’, prob-
ably in recognition of his shrewdness and diplomatic
ability. His popularity and standing in the tribe is
indicated by the fact that he married the sister,
(some authorities say, daughter) of Little Turtle
for his first wife and fought by the side of this dis-
tinguished Chief in the successful battles against
Harmar and St. Clair. Dim recollections of his
childhood days with his brothers and sisters and the
horrible scenes of butchery recently enacted sug-
gested to him that he might have slain some of his
Kentucky kindred with his own hand and revived a
long suppressed yearning to return to his own
people.
The approach of Wayne’s army in 1794 stirred
anew conflicting emotions based upon these indis-
tinct recollections of early ties, of country and kin-
dred on the one hand, and of existing attachments
179
180
of Indian wife and half-breed children on the other.
After a period of mental struggle he finally decided
to cast his lot with the Whites and resolved to make
his decision known. According to reliable tradition
he made known his secret purpose of leaving his
adopted tribe in true Indian fashion as follows:
Taking with him the War Chief, Little Turtle, to
a favorite spot on the banks of the Maumee, Wells
said, “I now leave your nation for my own people;
we have long been friends, we are friends yet; until
the sun reaches a certain height (which he indi-
cated), from that time we are enemies. Then if
you wish to kill me, you may. If I want to kill you,
I may.”
At the appointed hour, crossing the river, Captain
Wells disappeared in the forests taking an easterly
direction to strike the trail of Wayne’s army. Ob-
taining an interview with General Wayne, he be-
came ever afterward the faithful friend of the
Americans, and was made Captain of the spies con-
nected with Wayne’s army. His adventures in that
capacity are sufficiently detailed by Mr. McBride.
After the Treaty of GreeneVille, and the establish-
ment of peace, he joined his wife and family and
settled at the old orchard a short distance from the
confluence of the St. Marys and St. Joseph on the
banks of a small stream, then and now called Spy
Run.
About 1868, the author saw the old and decaying
scaffold builded between two oaks, on which had
been hanged two Indian spies, which circumstance
gave the stream its name. It is a small tributary
of the St. Marys, crossed by the Indian trail, now
the Goshen State road, three miles northwest of
Fort Wayne. In later life the government granted
Wells a pre-emption of some three hundred and
twenty acres (320) of land, including his improve-
ments and the old orchard. By appointment of the
government, Wells afterwards became Indian Agent
at Fort Wayne, in which capacity he served several
years.
By his first wife, Captain Wells had three daugh-
181
ters and a son. Mary Wells married Judge James
Walcot, and lived in Maumee City, Ohio, in 1828.
She died here in 1843. In 1825, Judge Walcot built
a house near this place of black walnut logs long
since sided over, in which house Mrs. J. G. Gentry,
a great granddaughter, still lives. Mary (Wells)
Walcot had the following children: Mary Ann, who
in 1848, married Smith Gilbert; Henry C. Walcot,
who died since then; Frederick A. Walcot, who was
killed in the Civil War, 1864; and James M. Walcot,
who resided in Maumee City in 1909, no children;
Smith Gilbert’s children, Frederick E., Albert W.
and Smith W. resided in Maumee City in 1870.
A poem was read by Mrs. J. G. Gentry, Thursday,
July 30th, 1913, at Perrysburg, Ohio, during the
centennial celebration of the siege of Fort Meigs.
The chairman introducing Mrs. Gentry, referred to
her distinguished ancestors.
At the battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20th,
1794, Mrs. Gentry’s ancestors fought on both sides
—her great-great grandfather, Little Turtle, leading
the Maimis and her great grandfather, Captain
_ Wells, fighting in Wayne’s army.
Ann Wells, the second daughter of Captain Wells,
married Dr. Turner, a leading and prominent physi-
cian in early Fort Wayne, concerning whose family
we have no record.
Rebecca Wells, the third daughter of the Wells
family, married Captain Hackley, a well known
early pioneer, residing in what is now Bloomingdale,
a suburb of the city of Fort Wayne, but formerly a
part of the Wells homestead. Hackley was the
first shoemaker in the city of Fort Wayne, and for a
number of years the only cobbler there. He com-
mitted suicide by hanging himself at his home. This
happened when Mrs. Lucien T. Ferry was a child
and she well remembered what an excitement this
act created.
Wayne ‘Wells, the fourth child, was appointed
Cadet to West Point, from Indiana, September,
1817; Second Lieutenant in 1821; First Lieutenant,
1825; resigned from the army in 1831, and died in
182
the year 1832, on board the steamer Superior of
Lake Erie while returning home from Pennsyl-
vania, without wife or children.
Hon. J. L. Williams, in his Historical Sketch of
the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Wayne, says,
“Two of the Wells girls were among the first
members of the Church about 1824. They were
one half Indian, and previously (in 1820) joined the
Baptists, under the labors of the Rev. McCoy, Mis-
sionary, to the Indians at the post. They were edu-
cated in Kentucky, and were for long years kindly
remembered by some in this Church and community
as ladies of refinement, intelligence and piety.”
The same author from whom we have secured
nearly all of the above information on the Wells
family (Knapp’s History of the Maumee Valley,
published 1877), also tells us that Captain Wells
afterward married a second sister of Little Turtle
and that they had one daughter, Jane, who married
John H. Griggs (a son of an old pioneer, Mathew
Griggs), and settled at Peru, Indiana. Mr. and
Mrs. Griggs had two sons, and two daughters,
one of whom married a Mr. Spaulding. They in
turn had two daughters, Mrs. Jeannette Thornton
and Mrs. Eva C. Corthell, the latter now residing at
2333 Silver street, Jacksonville, Florida. In order
to reconcile these two conflicting accounts it is sug-
gested that Wells really had two daughters, one of
whom died in maidenhood. The other one Jane
(Wells) Griggs.
It seems that no historian of the present day can
give an exact account of the marriage or of the
descendants of Captain Wells, as a number of the
best authorities have been consulted, and they fail
to agree on these points. Some say that he married
Little Turtle’s only daughter. If Knapp is correct,
that Wells had a second wife, then the first one may
have been Little Turtle’s sister. For without doubt
Mrs. Eva C. Corthell is a great great granddaughter
of Chief Little Turtle, and a great granddaughter
of Captain Wells.
We give as our authority on this subject the Secre-
1835
tary of the Chicago Historical Society, who has made
the above statements at different times, and given
this matter a thorough investigation. We conclude
therefore, that his second wife was Little Turtle’s
only daughter, Man-wan-go-path, or (Sweet Breeze).
Mrs. Eva C. Corthell confirms this last state-
ment. Further confirmation was given by a cousin
JANE (WELLS) GRIGGS AND GRANDSON
Her mother was Man-wan-go-path, or Sweet Breeze, Little Turtle’s
only daughter; her father was Captain William Wells.
of Mrs. Corthell, Mr. Warren Griggs, of Peru, In-
diana, who presented the author with a tin type of
himself, as a boy five years old, standing by the side
of his grandmother, Mrs. Jane (Wells) Griggs, who
married John H. Griggs, and was the daughter of
Captain Wells and Man-wan-go-path. Jane (Wells)
Griggs and Kil-so-quah were full cousins.
184
By taking this view of the subject, which we think
is correct, it to some extent reconciles the various
statements made by the different authorities, which
we have consulted concerning Wells’ marriage after
the death of his first wife.
Attached to Captain Wells’ scouts during Wayne’s
campaign in the northwest was one Robert McClel-
lan (whose name since has been immortalized by
the graphic pen of Washington Irving in his “As-
toria’’), who was one of the most athletic and active
men on foot known on this continent. On the grand
parade at Fort GreeneVille, he was challenged to a
trial of feats and strength by a number of soldiers
and teamsters, but, not deigning a reply either by
way of acceptance or refusal, he walked off a few
steps, took a short run and jumped over an army
wagon with a covered top about eight and one-half
feet high. He was very fleet of foot, and, in a long
race, never met his equal. All of these physical
qualities now became eminently useful to him and
enabled him to perform actions which gave him an
almost unrivaled reputation among the pioneers of
the west. On one of these expeditions through the
Indian country as he came to the banks of the river
St. Marys he discovered a family of Indians coming
up the river in a canoe. He dismounted and con-
cealed his men near the bank of the river, while he
himself went to the bank in open view and called to
the Indians to come over. As he was dressed in
Indian style and spoke to them, in their own
language, the Indians not expecting an enemy in
that part of the country, without any suspicion of
danger, went across the river. The moment the
canoe struck the shore Wells heard the click, click
of his comrades’ guns in preparation to shoot the In-
dians. But who should be in the canoe but his In-
dian father and mother, with their children, Little
Turtle and family. As his comrades were coming
forward with their rifles cocked ready to pour in
the deadly storm upon the devoted Indians, Wells
called to them to hold their hands and desist. He
then informed them who these Indians were and
185
solemnly declared, that the man who would attempt
is injure one of them would receive a ball in his
ead.
He said to his men, that that family had fed him
when he was hungry, clothed him when naked, and
kindly nursed him when he was sick and in every
respect were as kind and affectionate to him as they
were to their own children.
Those hardy backwoods soldiers aproved of the
motives of Captain Wells’ lenity to the enemy. They
threw down their rifles and tomahawks, went to the
canoe and shook hands with the trembling Indians
in the most friendly manner. Captain Wells assured
them they had nothing to fear from him, and after
talking with them to dispel their fears, he said that
General Wayne was approaching with an over-
whelming force; that the best thing the Indians
could do was to make peace, as the white men did
not wish to continue the war. He urged his Indian
father for the future to keep out of the reach of
danger, and then bade them farewell. They ap-
peared grateful for his clemency; pushed off their
canoe and went down the river as fast as they could
propel it.
Captain Wells and his comrades, though perfect
desperadoes in fight, upon this occasion proved that
they possessed to a large degree that real gratitude
and benevolence of heart which does honor to hu-
man kind.
Captain Wells was the same gentleman, named by
the Rev. O. M. Spencer, in the narrative of his
“Capture and release by the Indians’. It was to
Captain Wells, that Mr. Spencer was primarily in-
debted for his liberty (See Spencer’s narrative, page
105). During his campaign Wayne requested Wells
to go to Sandusky and secure a prisoner for the pur-
pose of obtaining information regarding the In-
dians. Wells replied. that he could get a prisoner,
but not from Sandusky. Whereupon, Wayne asked
him why he could not get a prisoner from Sandusky.
Wells in answer told him, that they were Wyandots
at Sandusky, and therefore could not be taken alive.
186
In concluding this chapter we give a brief account
of the massacre at Fort Dearborn (Chicago, III.)
and of the tragic death of Captain Wells, which oc-
curred about a month after that of Little Turtle.
In the beginning of the War of 1812, Captain
Wells was in command at Fort Wayne. When he
heard of General Hull’s orders for the evacuation
of Fort Dearborn, he made a rapid march with a
number of friendly Indians to assist in defending
the Fort, or to prevent its exposure to certain de-
struction or by an attempt to reach Fort Wayne in
safety at the head of the Maumee with the men,
women and children of old Fort Dearborn.
FORT DEARBORN
Erected on Chicago River in 1801.
Toward the evening of the 7th of August, 1812,
Wen-ne-meg, or the ‘Catfish’, a friendly Pottawat-
tomie Chief, who was intimate with Mr. Kinzie,
came to Fort Dearborn from Fort Wayne as the
bearer of a dispatch from General Hull to Captain
Heald, in which the former announced his arrival
at Detroit with an army, the declaration of war,
the invasion of Canada, and the loss of Mackinack.
It also conveyed an order to Captain Heald to evacu-
ate Fort Dearborn, if practicable, and to distribute
in that event all the United States property con-
187
tained in the Fort and in the government factory,
or agency in the neighborhood. This was doubtless
intended to be a peace offering to the savages to pre-
vent their joining the British then menacing Detroit.
Wenemeg, who knew the purport of the order,
begged Mr. Kinzie to advise Captain Heald not to
evacuate the Fort, for the movement would be diffi-
cult and dangerous.
The Indians had already received information
from Tecumseh,:-of the disasters to the American
arms, and the withdrawal of Hull’s army from Can-
ada, and were becoming daily more restless and
insolent.
Heald had an ample supply of ammunition and pro-
visions for six months; why not hold out until relief
could come from the southward? Winemeg further.
urged that if Captain Heald should resolve to evacu-
ate, it should be done immediately before the In-
dians should be informed of the order, or could pre-
pare for formidable resistance. ‘“‘Leave the fort and
stores as they are,” he said, “and let them make the
distributions for themselves, and while the Indians
are engaged in that business the white people may
-‘make their way in safety to Fort Wayne.” Mr.
Kinzie readily perceived the wisdom of Winemeg’s
advice, and so did Captain Heald’s officers—but the
Commander blindly resolved to obey Hull’s order
strictly as to evacuation and the distribution of the
public property. He caused that order to be read to
the troops on the morning of the 8th, and then as-
sumed the whole responsibility.
His officers expected to be summoned to a council,
but were disappointed. Toward evening they called
upon the Commander, and when informed of his
determination they remonstrated with him. The
march, they said, must necessarily be slow on ac-
count of the women and children and infirm persons,
and therefore, under the circumstances, extremely
perilous. Hull’s orders, they said, left it to the dis-
cretion of the Commander to go or stay, and they
thought it much better to strengthen the fort; defv
the savages and endure a siege until relief should
188
reach them. Heald argued in reply, that special
orders had been issued by the war department, that
no post should be surrendered without battle having
been given by the assailed, and that his force was
totally inadequate to an engagement with the In-
dians. He should expect the censure of his govern-
ment, he said, if he remained, and having full con-
fidence in the professions of friendship of many of
the Chiefs about him, he should call them together,
make the required distributions and take up his
march for Fort Wayne. After that his officers had
no more communications with him on the subject.
The Indians became more unruly every hour, and
yet Heald, with fatal procrastination, postponed the
assembling of the savages for two or three days.
They finally met near the Fort, on the afternoon of
the 12th, and there the commander held a farewell
council with them. Heald invited the officers to join
him in the council, but they refused. They had re-
ceived intimations that treachery was designed; that
the Indians intended to murder them in the council
circle, and then destroy the inmates of the Fort.
The officers remained within the pickets and open-
ing the port of one of the blockhouses, so as to ex-
pose the cannon pointed directly upon the group in
council, they secured the safety of Captain Heald.
The Indians were intimidated by the menacing
monster, and accepted Heald’s offers with many
protestations of friendship.
He agreed to distribute among them, not only the
goods in the public store, blankets, broadcloths
calicoes, paints, etc., but also the arms, ammunition
and provisions, not necessary for the use of the gar-
rison on its march. It was stipulated that the dis-
tribution should take place the next day, soon after
which the garrison and white inhabitants would
leave the works. The Pottawattomies agreed on their
part to furnish a proper escort for them through
the wilderness to Fort Wayne, on condition of being
liberally rewarded on their arrival there.
When the result of the council was made known,
Mr. Kinzie warmly remonstrated with Captain
VA}
189
Heald. He knew the Indians well and their weak-
ness, in the presence of great temptations, to do
wrong. He begged the commander not to confide in
their promises at a moment so inauspicious for faith-
fulness to treaties. He especially entreated him not
to place in their hands arms and ammunition, for it
would fearfully increase their power to carry on
those murderous raids, which for months had spread
terror throughout the frontier settlements.
Heald perceived his folly, and resolved to violate
the treaty, so far as arms and ammunition were con-
cerned. On that very evening when the Chief of
the council seemed most friendly, a circumstance
occurred which should have made Captain Heald
shut the gate to. his dusky neighbors, and resolve not
to leave the fort.
Black Partridge, a hitherto friendly Chief, and
a man of much influence, came quietly to the ‘Com-
mander, and said: “Father, I came to deliver to you
the medal I wear. It was given me by the Ameri-
cans, and I have long worn it in token of our mutual
friendship. But our young men are resolved to
imbrue their hands in the blood of the white people.
I cannot restrain them and I will not wear a token
of peace while I am compelled to act as an enemy.”
This solemn and authentic warning was strangely
unheeded.
The morning of the 18th was bright and cool. The
, Indians assembled in great numbers to receive their
presents, but nothing save the goods in the store
were distributed that day. In the evening Black
Partridge said to Mr. Griffith, the interpreter,
“Linden birds have been singing in my ears today;
be careful on the march you are going to take.”
This was another solemn warning which was com-
municated to Captain Heald. It, too, was unheeded ;
and at midnight, when the sentinels were all posted
and the Indians were in their camps, a portion of
the powder and liquor in the fort was cast into a
well near the sally port, and the remainder into a
canal that came up from the river far under the
covered way. The muskets not reserved for the
190
garrison were broken up, and these, with shot, bul-
lets, flints, gunscrews and everything else pertain-
ing to fire arms were also thrown into the well.
A large quantity of alcohol belonging to Mr. Kin-
zie was poured into the river, and before morning
the destruction was complete. But the work had
not been done in secret. The night was dark and
vigilant Indians had crept to the fort as noiselessly
as serpents, and their quick senses had perceived the
destruction of what under the treaty they claimed
as their own.
In the morning the work of the night was made
more manifest. The powder was seen floating upon
the surface of the river and the sluggish water had
been converted by whiskey and the alcohol into
strong grog, aS an.eye witness remarked.
Complaints and threatenings were loud among the
savages, because of this breach of faith, and the
dwellers in the fort were impressed with the dread-
ful sense of impending destruction, when the brave
Captain Wells, Mrs. Heald’s uncle, and adopted son
of the Chief Little Turtle, was discovered upon the
Indian trail near the sand hills on the border of the
lake not far distant, with a band of mounted Miamis
of whose tribe he was considered a Chief.
He had heard at Fort Wayne of the orders of Hull
to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and being fully aware of
the hostilities of the Pottawattomies, he had made a
rapid march across the country to reinforce Captain
Heald, assist in defending the fort or prevent its
exposure to certain destruction by an attempt to
reach the head of the Maumee, but he was too late.
All means for maintaining a siege had been destroy-
ed a few hours before, and every preparation had
been made for leaving the post the next day.
When the morning of the 15th arrived, there were
positive indications that the Indians intended to
massacre all the white people. They were over-
whelming in numbers and held the fate of the de-
voted band in their grasp. When at nine o’clock,
the appointed hour, the march commenced, it was
like a funeral procession.
191
The band struck up the dead march in Saul.
Captain Wells with his face blackened, with wet gun
powder in token of his impending fate, took the lead
with his friendly Miamis, followed by Captain Heald
with his heroic wife by his side. Mr. Kinzie ac-
companied them hoping by his personal influence to
soften, if he could not avert the impending blow.
His family were left in a boat in charge of a friend-
ly Indian to be conveyed around the head of the lake
to Kinzie’s trading station, on the site of the present
village of Niles, Michigan. Slowly the procession
moved along the lake shore, until they came to the
sand hills between the prairie and the beach, when
the escort of Pottawattomies, about five hundred in
number, under the Blackbird, filed to the right and
placed those hills between themselves and the white
people. Wells and his Miamis had kept in the ad-
vance, suddenly they came dashing back, the leader
shouting, “They are about to attack us! Form in-
stantly.” These startling words were scarcely
uttered when a storm of bullets came from the sand
hills, but without serious effect.
The treacherous and cowardly Pottawattomies
had made those hillocks their cover for a murderous
attack. The troops hastily brought into line charged
up the bank when one of their number, a white
haired man of seventy years, fell dead from his
horse, the first victim. The Indians were driven
back, and the battle was waged on the open prairie
between fifty-four soldiers and twelve civilians, and
three or four women, against about five hundred In-
dian warriors. Of course, the conflict was hopeless
on the part of the white people, but they resolved
to make the butchers pay dearly for every life which
they destroyed.
The cowardly Miamis fled at the first onset, their
Chief rode up to the Pottawattomies, charged them
with perfidy and brandishing his glittering toma-
hawk declared that he would be the first to lead
Americans to punish them. He then wheeled and
dashed after his fugitive companions who were
scurrying over the prairies as if the evil Spirit were
192
at their heels. The conflict was short, desperate and
bloody, two-thirds of the white people were slain or
wounded, all the horses, provisions and baggage
were lost, and only twenty strong men remained to
brave the fury of about five hundred Indians, who
had lost but fifteen in the conflict. The devoted band
had succeeded in breaking through the ranks of the
assassins who gave way in front and rallied on the
flank and gained a slight eminence on the prairie
near a grove called the oak woods.
The savages did not pursue. They gathered upon
the sand hills in consultation, and gave signs of
willingness to parley.
Further conflict with them would be rashness, so
Captain Heald, accompanied by Parish, the Clerk, a
half-breed boy in Mr. Kinzie’s service, went for-
ward, met Blackbird on the open prairie and ar-
ranged terms for a surrender. It was agreed that
all the arms should be given up to Blackbird, and
that the survivors should become prisoners of war,
to be exchanged for ransoms as soon as practicable;
with this understanding, captured and captors all
started for the Indian encampment near the fort. So
overwhelming was the savage force at the sand hills,
that the conflict after the first desperate charge be-
came an exhibition of individual prowess, a life and
death struggle in which no one could render any
assistance to his neighbor, for all were principles.
In this conflict women bore a conspicuous part. All
fought gallantly so long as strength permitted them.
The brave ensign, Ronan, wielded his weapon even
when falling upon his knees because of loss of blood.
Captain Wells displayed the greatest coolness and
gallantry. He was by the side of his niece when the
conflict began. ‘“We have not the slightest chance for
life’, he said. “We must part to meet no more in this
world, God bless you, my child.” With these words
he dashed forward with the rest. In the midst of
the fight he saw a young warrior, painted like a
demon, climb into a wagon in which were twelve
children of the white people, and tomahawk them
all. Forgetting his own immediate danger Wells ex-
193
claimed, “If that is your game, butchering women
and children, I'll kill too.”” He instantly dashed to-
ward the Indian camp where they had left their
squaws and little ones, hotly pursued by swift footed
young warriors, who sent many rifle balls after him.
He lay close to his horse’s neck, and turned and fired
occasionally upon his pursuers; when he had got
almost beyond the range of their rifles, a ball killed
his horse and wounded him severely on the leg.
The young savages rushed forward with a demoniac
yell to make him a prisoner and reserve him for a
torture, for he was to them an arch offender.
His friends, Winnemeg and Wanbansee, vainly
attempted to save him from his fate. He knew the
temper and practices of the savages well, and re-
solved not to be made captive. He taunted them
with the most insulting epithets to provoke them
to kill him instantly. At length he called one of
the fiery young warriors (Persotum) a Squaw,
which so enraged him, that he killed Wells instantly
with a tomahawk; jumped upon his body, cut
out his heart, and ate a portion of the warm and
half palpitating morsel with savage delight.
The wife of Captain Heald, who was an expert
with the rifle and an excellent equestrian, deported
herself bravely. She received severe wounds, but
faint and bleeding she managed to keep the saddle.
A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her when she
looked him full in the face and with a sweet, melan-
choly smile, said in the Indian tongue, “Surely you
will not kill a squaw.” The appeal was effectual.
The arm of the savage fell and the life of the heroic
woman was saved. Mrs. Helm, the stepdaughter of
Mr. Kinzie, had a severe personal encounter with a
stalwart young Indian, who attempted to tomahawk
her. She sprang to one side and received the blow
intended for her head, upon her shoulder, and at
the same instant she seized the savage around the
neck and endeavored to get hold of his scalping
knife, which hung in a sheath upon his breast.
While thus struggling, she was dragged from her
antagonist by another Indian, who bore her, in spite
194
of her desperate resistance, to the margin of the
lake, and plunged in at the same time, to her aston-
ishment holding her so that she would not drown.
She soon perceived she was held by a friendly hand.
It was Black Partridge, who had _ saved her.
When the firing ceased and capitulation was con-
cluded he conducted her to the prairie where she
met her father and heard her husband was safe.
Bleeding and suffering she was conducted to the
Indian camp by Black Partridge and Persotum,
the latter carrying in his hand a scalp which she
knew to be that of Captain Wells, by the black rib-
bon that bound the queue. The wife of a soldier
named Gorford believing that all prisoners were
reserved for torture, fought desperately and suf-
fered herself to be literally cut in pieces rather than
surrender.
The wife of Sergeant Holt, who was badly wound-
ed in his neck at the beginning of the engagement,
received from him his sword and behaved as brave-
ly as any Amazon. She was a large and powerful
woman, and rode a fine, high spirited horse, which
the Indians coveted. Several of them attacked
her with the butt of their guns for the purpose of
dismounting her, but she used her sword so skil-
fully that she foiled them. She suddenly wheeled
her horse and dashed over the prairie, followed by
a large number, who shouted, “The brave woman!
brave woman! don’t hurt her!” They finally over-
took her and while two or three were engaging her
in front, a powerful savage seized her by the neck
and dragged her backward to the ground. The
horse and woman became prizes. The latter was
afterward ransomed.
When the captives were taken to the Indian camp,
a new scene of horrors was opened; the wounded,
according to the Indians interpretation of the capit-
ulation, were not included in the terms of surrender.
Proctor had offered a liberal sum for scalps de-
livered at Malden. So nearly all the wounded men
were killed and the value of British bounty, such
195
as is sometimes offered for the destruction of wolves,
was taken from each head.
In this tragedy Mrs. Heald played a part, but
fortunately escaped scalping. In order to save her
fine horse, the Indians had aimed at the rider. Sev-
en bullets took effect upon her person. Her captor,
who was about to slay her upon the battlefield, as
we have seen, left her in the saddle, and led her
horse toward the camp. When in sight of the fort
his inquisitiveness overpowered his gallantry, and
he was taking her bonnet off her head in order to
scalp her when she was discovered by Mrs. Kinzie,
who was yet sitting in the boat, and who had heard
the tumult of the conflict; but without any intima-
tion of the result, until she saw the wounded woman
in the hands of her savage captive. “Run! run!
Chandonnai!”’ exclaimed Mrs. Kinzie, to one of her
husband’s. clerks, who was standing on the beach.
“That is Mrs. Heald. He is going to kill her! Take
that mule and offer it as a ransom.” Chandonnai
promptly obeyed and increased the bribe by offer-
ing in addition two bottles of whiskey. These were
worth more than Proctor’s bounty, and Mrs. Heald
was released. She was placed in Mrs. Kinzie’s
boat and there concealed from the prying eyes of
other scalp hunters. Toward evening the family of
Mr. Kinzie were allowed to return to their own
house where they were greeted by the friendly Black
Partridge. Mrs. Helm was placed in the house of
Onilmette, a Frenchman, by the same friendly hand.
But these and all the other prisoners were ex-
posed to great jeopardy by the arrival of a band
of fierce Pottawattomies, from the Wabash, who
yearned for blood and plunder. They searched the
houses for prisoners with keen vision, and when no
further concealment and safety seemed possible,
some friendly Indians arrived and so turned the tide
of affairs that the Wabash savages were ashamed to
own their bloodthirsty intentions.
In this terrible tragedy in the wilderness one
hundred and six years ago, twelve children, all the
masculine civilians but Mr. Kinzie and his sons,
196
Captain Wells, Surgeon VanVorhees, Ensign Ronan
and twenty-six private soldiers were murdered.
The prisoners were divided among the captors and
were finally reunited or restored to their friends
and families. Of all the sad tragedies to which
human life is susceptible, none surpassed that of the
death of Captain William Wells. The English lan-
guage in its rich vocabulary of words fails to ex-
press adequately the courage and heroism manifest-
ed by this little band of men and women on that
fatal Saturday morning of August 15, 1812. The
day dawned clear and warm, and as Seymour Curry
tells us, in his “Story of Old Fort Dearborn”,
scarcely a breath of air was stirring. The lake,
unruffled, stretched away in a sheet of burnished
gold. But the gold which shown most brilliant on
that fatal day was that of this immortal band, which
towered to the hall of fame. We, the children of
this noble heritage, should learn to love and adore,
and above all to guard the free institutions under
which we live and for \which they died.
“A tale of war, a tale of woe;
A tale of savage wild o’erflow;
A tale of dark and bloody hue;
Of old Fort Dearborn, a story true.”
XII.
THE ROYAL LINE.
AQUE-NOCH-QUAH.
Perhaps the first detailed description of the Miami
Chieftain by a white man was that given by Father
Charlevoix, who visited the Miami and Pottawat-
tomie villages on the river St. Joseph of Lake Mich-
igan in 1721.
He said, ‘““SSome days after I went to make a visit
to the Miami Chief who had sent word that I was
expected. He was a big, well-made man, badly dis-
figured by the loss of his nose, which they told me
happened in some drunken carouse. When he heard
that I was coming, he planted himself, crosslegged,
on a sort of low platform, at the bottom of his hut,
after the manner of the Grand Turk, and there I
found him. He talked little, and appeared much to
affect a proud gravity, which, however, he carried
off indifferently’’.
From this brief description we are impressed with
the fact that the Miami Indians suffered from the
use of intoxicating liquors which they secured from
traders at an early date. It also seems that the
chiefs at an early date appreciated the dignity of
their office and strove to leave an impression of
strength and power.
We do not know the name of the chief mentioned
by Charlevoix, but the time and circumstances men-
tioned, would seem to indicate that he was the father
of Aquenochquah, who was the first chief known to
rule the Miamis after their return from the west or
northwest, whither they had probably been driven
by the fierce and cruel wars of the Iroquois Con-
federacy which commenced about 1640, and contin-
ued at intervals for a period of some thirty years.
The Miamis, it seems, could not successfully with-
stand the continued assaults of the Iroquois Con-
197
198
federacy and after a serious loss of many warriors
fled to the westward where in time they formed a
great Confederacy of the western tribes and re-
newed the conflict with their former enemies with
great vigor. This was the condition of affairs when
the French made their first appearance in this part
of the western world. They immediately gave their
assistance to the Miami Confederacy giving as a
reason that they wished to establish peace among
the nations in order to further their interests in
the promotion of the fur trade with the Indians.
A great and decisive battle was fought somewhere
on the banks of the Maumee, between the French
and their Indian allies and the Iroquois in which the
latter suffered a great defeat. This battle lasted
two or three days and was soon followed by a lasting
peace, thus leaving the Miamis in full possession
of their old homes and hunting grounds.
It is said that Aque-noch-quah, the father of Lit-
tle Turtle, then a young warrior, won great renown
in this battle on account of his skill in planning an
ambush in which hundreds of the Iroquois were
slain. Hence he was made head war chief of the
Miamis, while yet very young.
He located his village on the site of what is since
known as the Little Turtle town twenty miles north-
west of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Here he lived with
his Mohican squaw, surrounded by a great Miami
village, a veritable garden spot of northern Indiana.
Here it was that his children were born. Mes-she-
kin-no-quah, in 1752; Tah-cum-wah, wife of Joseph
Richardville; the first wife of Captain William
Wells, and possibly other children. These three,
however, are all that ever came to the public notice.
News of the declaration of war against Great
Britain by France in 1744, was the signal for more
aggressive movements in America than had already
existed. The British succeeded in making several
important treaties with the six nations at Lancas-
ter, Pa.; also with tribes in Ohio and Indiana at the
same time.
199
One of the three leading chiefs who pledged loy-
alty to the British at this noted treaty at Lancaster
was Aque-noch-quah, whose son was to play a prom-
inent part in the tragic life of the frontier a gen-
eration later. |
The following is a literal copy of the first treaty
between the English authorities and the Twightwees,
or Miami Indians representing twelve villages sit-
uated on the borders of the river Wabash and Mau-
mee as it was signed by Aque-noch-quah, at Lancas-
ter, Pa., the 23d of July, 1748: ‘Whereas at an
Indian Treaty held at Lancaster, in the county of
Lancaster in the province of Pennsylvania, on Wed-
nesday the 23d day of July instant, before the Hon-
orable Benjamin Shoemaker, Joseph Turner and
William Logan, Esquires, by virtue of a commis-
sioner the great Seal of said Province dated at
Philadelphia the 16th day of said month, three
Indian Chiefs, Deputies from the Twightwees, a
nation of Indians situated on or about the river
Ouabache, a branch of the river Mississippi, viz:
_Aque-noch-quah, Asepansa, Natocequeha appeared
in behalf of themselves and their nations and prayed
that the Twightwees might be admitted into the
friendship and alliance of the King of Great Britain
and his subjects, professing on their parts to become
true and faithful friends and allies to the English
and so forever to continue, and Scayroyiady, Cad-
arianirha Chiefs of the Oneda nation; Swehrachery
of the Seneca nation; Cani-ineco-don, Cunlyuchqua,
Echnissia of the Mohawks; Dawachcamicky, Dom-
iny, Buck, Ossoghqua of the Shawanese; and Nan-
atchiehon of the Delawares, all of them nations in
friendship and alliance with the English, becoming
earnest intercessors with the said commissioners on
their behalf, the prayer of the said deputies of the
Twightwees was granted, a firm treaty of alliance
and friendship was then stipulated and agreed on
between the said commissioners and the said depu-
ties of the Twightwees nation, as by the records of
council remaining at Philadelphia in the said pro-
vince may more fully appear.
200
‘‘Now these presents witness and it is hereby de-
clared that the said nation of Indians called the
Twightwees are accepted by the said commissioners
as good friends and that they, the said Twightwees,
and the subjects of the King of Great Britain shall
forever hereafter be as one head and one heart
and live in true friendship as one people.
“In consideration whereof the said Aque-noch-
quah, Assepansa, Natocequeha, Deputies of the said
Twightwees nation do hereby, in behalf of the said
nation, covenant, promise and declare that the gen-
eral people of the said Twightwee nation or any of
them shall not at any time hurt, injure or defraud
or suffer to be hurt, injured or defrauded any of the
subjects of the King of Great Britain, either in
their persons or estates. But shall at all times read-
ily do justice and perform to them all acts and
offices of friendship and good will.
“Item 1—That the said Twightwee nation, by the
alliance aforesaid, becoming entitled to the privi-
lege and protection of the English laws, they shall
at all times behave themselves regularly and sober-
ly according to the laws of this government, whilst
they shall live or be amongst or near the christian
inhabitants thereof.
“Item 2—That none of the said nation shall at
any time be aiding, assisting or abetting to, or with
any nation whether of Indians or others that shall
not be in amity with the crown of England and the
government.
“Item 3—That if at any time any of the Twight-
wee nation, by means of evil minded persons and
sowers of sedition, should hear of any unkind or dis-
advantageous reports of the English as if they had
evil designs against any of the said Indians; in such
ease such Indians shall send notice thereof to the
governor of the Province for the time being and
shall not give credit to the reports till by that means
they shall be fully satisfied of the truth thereof.
“And it is agreed that the English in such case
shall do the same by them. In testimony whereof
as well, the said commissioners as the said deputies
201
of the Twightwee nation have smoked the calumet
pipe, made mutual presents to each other and here-
unto set their hands and seals the twenty-third day
of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and forty-eight and in the twenty-second
year of the reign of George the Second, King of
Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith
v. e.”
The treaty was signed, sealed and delivered in the
presence of Reverend Peters, Secretary; Conrad
Wiesner, Interpreter; Andrew Montour, Interpre-
ter; Geo. Coghan, John Forsythe, Conrad Doll, Mi-
chael Hubby, Andrew Perit, Thomas Cookson, Peter
Warrall, Ed. Smout, Simon Kuhn, David Stout and
George Smith.
Aque-noch-quah participated in another treaty
with the English in 1760, when he and certain other
chiefs of the six nations met General George Wash-
ington at Philadelphia where differences between
the colonists and Indians were adjusted, certain
trade concessions were made and right to travel
routes were granted.
General Washington, in recognition of this chief’s
skill as a diplomat, presented him with a parchment
with an inscription burned on it as an expression
of good will toward the Miamis.
It seems that none of the writers of history have
given this famed chief more than a dozen lines. One
student of the early day in the old northwest says
that Aque-noch-quah was a young warrior during
the time that the Miamis and other Indian tribes
had their war with the Iroquois and in the battles
with them had distinguished himself by his brav-
ery, at one time having planned and conducted an
ambuscade that brought crushing defeat to an army
of Iroquois much larger than his own.
The death of his father, soon after this successful
ambuscade, made Aque-noch-quah his successor as
great chief of all the Miamis. Like his famous son,
Little Turtle, he was a man of superior ability,
shrewd in his dealings with the white men, and
earefully guarded the interests of his nation. He
202
was probably born in the last decade of the seven-
teenth century and all evidence points to the place
as a site on the river St. Joseph of Lake Michigan,
near the location of the present city of South Bend,
Indiana. Nor does history give us the name of his
father. He, however, was a fullblooded Indian, not
a drop of the blood of any other race being inter-
mingled in his veins. At this time the French blood
had not become infused into the royal Miami line
that gave to the tribe its principal chieftains.
Joseph Drouet DeRichardville, a fullblooded
Frenchman married Tah-cum-wah, Aque-noch-
- quah’s daughter and Captain William Wells for his
first wife is said to have married another daughter,
both sisters to the distinguished Chief Me-she-kin-
no-quah.
CHIEF RICHARDVILLE.
Little Turtle was succeeded in the chieftainship of
the Miami nation by one Lagrisse, called Pechon,
who reigned but a few months until his death in
1815. At this crisis the line of descent turned back
to the famous Richardville family.
Joseph Drouet DeRichardville was the son of
Antoine Drouet DeRichardville, and was a descend-
ant of the French nobility. He emigrated to Can-
ada and thence to Vincennes where he early engaged
as a fur trader. His son Joseph was interested in
the trading business with his father, and in his ne-
gotiations with the Indians visited the Miami In-
dians at Kekionga. Their visits convinced him of
the superior advantages of this point as a trading
station and the fact that Ta-cum-wah, a Miami
maiden here had become infatuated with him, and
he with her, led him to decide to make this historic
place his trade headquarters. This he did in 1763,
and shortly afterward married this Indian girl, who
was the daughter of Aque-noch-quah, then the
great chief of the Miamis and the sister of Little
Turtle.
No doubt there was real affection on the part of
203
Ta-cum-wah in the courtship, marriage and honey-
moon, but as far as DeRichardville was concerned
it was to a large extent a “policy marriage’. This
alliance immediately placed him in the confidence of
the Indians, enabling him to drive bargains suited
to his liking, and wandering traders coming here
at an early day found that he practically monopo-
lized the trading business in this region.
Fe ime Dee Se ea ig Phat
7 sebwenssc HMRSERSIRAL ETE Rese
Sty ee RLIGES GREP 3
SERS ORE Be: pees
feteetes
PRT LHR ERE EES
P REPS PERC BEE
tren
Meg hiceett ke:
arith)
CHIEF RICHARDVILLE (PE-CHE-WA.)
The home of DeRichardville and his Miami wife
for some time after their marriage was in a hut
in what is now Lakeside, a suburb of Fort Wayne,
Indiana, near the historic old apple tree. The lat-
ter landmark remained standing until the close
of the last century, but with the march of civ-
ilization, finally fell a victim to the homeseeking
204
woodsman’s axe. It was in this hut near this
old apple tree that their famed son John B. Rich-
ardville (Pe-she-wa), afterward chief of the
Miamis, was born about 1764. Inheriting this no-
ble French blood on his father’s side, his abilities
were such, it is said, as well adapted him to direct
the affairs of the Miamis, and for many years his
house on the banks of the St. Marys river, about
four miles from Fort Wayne, was known as the
abode of hospitality.
At the time of his death, August 13, 1841, Pe-che-
wa was regarded as the wealthiest Indian in North
America. His property and money, is said to have
been valued at more than a million dollars. Much
of this came as a result of his own private busi-
ness for he was extensively engaged in trade, and
much from his mother, Tah-cum-wah, he being the
only child. His mother, who for thirty years was
the Chieftess of the Miamis, conducted the portage
business—the transportation of goods and furs
across the country to and from the waters of the
Maumee and Wabash. This business she monopo-
lized for many years and from it made large sums
of money, even as much as one hundred dollars a
day. Through the treaties made by the government
with the Indians, Richardville and his mother were
given large tracts of land. In the treaty of St.
Marys, made in 1818, a reserve of three sections
of land, principally located four miles up the St.
Marys river from Fort Wayne, was granted to him.
This land, at his death, went to his heirs, among
whom were three daughters, Lablonda, Susan and
Catherine.
The Godfreys, for years an interesting Indian
family in this section of the state, are the descend-
ants of Lablonda and Francis Lafontaine, the last
real chief of the Miamis was a descendant of Cath-
erine.
During the years of Richardville’s incumbency
there were no serious troubles of a warlike char-
acter at this point. His duties were principally
those of a civil ruler and took only a portion of his
205
time, allowing him to devote much energy to his
own business. The trading house which he con-
ducted was located on Columbia street. There he
transacted great business until 1836, when he moved
his merchandise to the forks of the Wabash. His
home on the Richardville reserve, he retained. This
was a palatial residence for the days in which it
was built. The government had allowed him five
hundred dollars for this purpose, and to this sum he
had added money of his own. Most of the closing
years of his life were devoted to farming. His re-
mains were buried in the Catholic cemetery, then
located on the Cathedral Square. Over this his
daughters erected a handsome and costly monument.
It was afterward removed with Richardville’s re-
mains to the Catholic burying grounds, in the south-
western part of the city, and later in 1875, to the
Catholic cemetery east of the city.
Bearing the marks of time and the defacements
of its removals, it stands there today attracting the
attention of many of the visitors to this beautiful
city of the dead.
His father, Drouet De Richardville, was a French
trader here for some years before, and after the
fatal expedition of LaBalme, in 1780. Among the
many interesting incidents frequently recited by the
late Chief John B. Richardville to Allen Hamilton,
he gave some years ago an account of his ascending
to the chieftainship of his tribe. The occasion was
not only thrilling and heroic, but on the part of his
famous mother and himself, will ever stand in his-
tory as one of the noblest and most humane acts
known to any people; and would serve as a theme
both grand and eloquent for the most gifted poet
or dramatist of any land.
It was a wild and barbarous period in the waning
days of the Miamis. Kekionga still occasionally
echoed with the shrieks and groans of captive men,
and the young warriors still rejoiced in the barbaric
custom of burning prisoners at the stake, a custom
long in vogue with the Miamis here. A white man
had been captured and brought in by the warriors.
206
A council had been convened in which the question
of his fate arose in debate and was soon settled.
He was to be burned at the stake, and the braves
and villagers generally were soon gathered about
the prospective scene of torture, making the very
air resound with their vociferations and gratifica-
tions at the prospect of soon enjoying another hour
of fiendish merriment at the expense of a poor,
miserable victim of torture. Already the man was
lashed to the stake and the torch that was to ignite
the combustible material placed about him, was in
the hands of the brave appointed to feed the flame
that was so soon to consume the victim of their
cruelty. But the spirit of rescue was at hand. The
man was destined to be saved from the terrible
fate that surrounded him.
Young Richardville had for some time been
singled out as the future chief of the tribe, and his
heroic mother saw in this a propitious and glorious
moment for the assertion of his chieftainship, by an
act of great daring and bravery in the rescue of the
prisoner at the stake. All eyes were now fixed upon
the captive. Young Richardville and his mother
were some distance from the general scene, but suf-
ficiently near to see the movements of the actors in
the tragedy about to be enacted, and could plainly
hear the coarse ejaculations. At that critical mo-
ment when the torch was about to be applied to the
bark, as if touched by some angelic impulse of love
and pity for the poor captive, the mother of young
Richardville placed a knife in her son’s hand and
bade him assert his chieftainship by the rescue of
the prisoner. The magnetic force of the mother
seemed instantly to have convulsed and inspired the
young warrior, and he quickly bounded away to the
scene, broke through the wild crowd, cut the cords
that bound the man and bade him be free!
All were astonished and surprised, and by no
means pleased at the loss of their prize, yet the
young man, their favorite for his heroic, daring
conduct, was at once esteemed a god of the crowd,
207
and then and thereafter became a chief of the first
distinction and honor in the tribe.
The thoughtful and heroic mother of Richardville
now took the man in charge, quietly placed him in
a canoe and covered him with hides and peltries.
With the assistance of some friendly Indians, he
was soon gliding safely down the placid current of
the Maumee beyond the scene of the turbulent
warriors and village of Kekionga. The rescue was
complete.
Some years subsequent to this event, on a trip to
Washington City he stopped for a little while at a
town in Ohio. Here a man came up to him and
suddenly recognizing in the stranger the counten-
ance of his benefactor and deliverer of years before,
threw his arms about the chief’s neck and embraced
him with all the warmth of filial affection and grati-
tude. He was indeed the rescued prisoner; and the
meeting between the chief and the man was of min-
gled pleasure and surprise.
In stature the chief was about five feet ten inches,
with broad shoulders, and weighed about one hun-
dred and eighty pounds. His personal appearance
was attractive, and being graceful in carriage and
manner, he bore the marks of a finished gentleman.
Exempt from any expression of levity, a simple
child of nature, he is said to have impressed his
dignity under all circumstances. His eyes were of
a lightish blue and slightly protruding; his upper lip
firmly pressed upon his teeth and the under one
slightly projecting; his nose was of the Roman type
and the whole contour of his face was classic and
attractive.
According to David H. Colerick, Esq., who was
intimately associated with the chief, as his attor-
ney and transacted much of his business for many
years, Richardville was considered the wisest and
most sagacious chief of all the Indians of the entire
northwest, and was the successful head and ruler ©
of the Miami tribe for more than twenty-five years
previous to his death in 1841. His mother, the sis-
ter of Little Turtle, was a most remarkable woman.
208
Her son Peshewa was endowed with a mind some-
what passive. Being a rather close observer and
apt in his business transactions, he was always ex-
tremely careful in what he undertook. A most pa-
tient listener, his reticence often assumed almost
the form of extreme indifference; yet such was far
from his nature, for he ever exercised the warmest
and most attentive regard for all his people and
mankind in general, and the needy never called in
vain. His kind and charitable hand was never
withheld from the distressed of his own people or
from the stranger; he was beloved and esteemed by
all who knew him.
He spoke French and English as well as his na-
tive tongue. Senator John Tipton, who knew Rich-
~ ardville well, had this to say of him, “He was
the ablest diplomat of whom I have any knowledge.
If he had been born and educated in France he
would have been the equal of Tallyrand’’.
The portrait of Chief John B. Richardville (Pe-
chewa) is after an old painting in possession of his
granddaughter, Mrs. Archangel Engleman, of Hunt-
ington county, Indian.
He was a signer of the Treaty of GreeneVille.
An interesting anecdote is related, which throws
an interesting light on the character of this chief.
“Who is the young man with you as your clerk?”
The speaker was John B. Richardville the chief of
the Miamis. The question was put to Captain Sam-
uel C. Vance, who had been sent to the pioneer as
registrar for the land office established here by the
government for the sale of lands acquired from the
Indians. The time was midsummer of the year
1823. The two men, one an Indian of half blood,
tall, and of commanding appearance, and the other
a white man in whom the military and business
mould, as one could see at a glance, were combined,
were standing in front of the government Council
House on what is East Main street near the old
fort. The Miami chief as he asked the question
pointed through the open doorway to a young man
seated at a table in the Council House busily en-
209
gaged in writing. “That,” replied Capt. Vance, to
the question of the chief, “is my clerk Allen Ham-
ilton. I want you to get acquainted with him,” and
the two men passed into the building and Chief
Richardville was introduced to young Hamilton, the
beginning of a strong friendship, that contin-
ued through both their lives and contributed much
to the material advancement of both. For Mr.
Hamilton was afterward for years the confidential
advisor of the Miami chief in business affairs.
As illustrative of this close friendship between the
two, an interesting incident is related in an old
sketch of the life of Mr. Hamilton. On one occasion
Mr. Hamilton, who had come into possession of a
splendid horse, a fine looking high spirited animal,
was riding it along Columbia street, and stopped in
front of the place where Richardville had a trading
house. He called the chief out to talk over a busi-
ness matter. This finished, the Indian began an
examination of the horse and expressed his admira-
tion of the animal. ‘“That’s fine horse, Mr. Hamil-
ton, one of the finest I ever saw,” he said. “I strike
on that horse.”’ This latter expression was one used
frequently by the Indians when they saw anything
that pleased their fancy and they very much desired
to have. Mr. Hamilton saw his opportunity to win
the good graces of the chief, who by the reserva-
tions of land granted by the government and in his
business as a trader had become quite wealthy, re-
plied to the Indian’s remark, ‘Well, Chief, it’s
yours. I make you a present of the horse’’, and
immediately dismounting, he turned the animal over
to Richardville as a gift. Not very long after that
the two were riding together through the country
some distance south of Fort Wayne on a matter of
business, and passing several fine tracts of land
land which belonged to Chief Richardville, one of
these particularly fine ones pleased Mr. Hamilton
greatly, and turning to his half breed friend with a
merry twinkle in his eyes he said: ‘Well, Chief, I
strike on that section.” “It’s yours’, answered the
chief, “I make you a deed for it, but we won’t strike
210
any more’. The next day he made a deed for the
section of land and handed it to Mr. Hamilton as a
gift.
CHIEF LAFONTAINE.
We now pass from Richardville to his son-in-law,
Francis LaFontaine (Topeah), who became the last
real chief of the Miamis in 1841.
LaFontaine was born in the Indian village near
Fort Wayne in 1810, and when twenty-one years of
age was married to Catherine, daughter of John B.
Richardville. Upon the death of his father-in-law
he made his home and headquarters for a time in
the Richardville mansion. He had been chief five
years when, with the Miami tribe from the head-
waters of the Maumee and the Wabash, he went to
the new government reservation in the west. He
remained there only a few months and then started
on his return to Indiana. At St. Louis he was tak-
en ill. He persisted, however, in continuing his
homeward trip and at LaFayette, Indiana, his con-
dition became so serious that he could proceed no
further. Here on April 13, 1847, he died, at the age
of only thirty-seven years.
His remains were taken to Huntington, where they
were buried. It is claimed that he did not die a
natural death, but as the result of poison secretly
administered to him by members of his own tribe,
while he was in the west, because he was about
to desert them and return to his home in Indiana.
The following story was told to a newspaper corre-
spondent several years ago on the occasion of a
visit to Huntington, near which city LaFontaine’s
daughter, Mrs. Archangel Engleman, then lived.
“Father went with the Miamis, when they removed
to their reservation in the west. He was never sat-
isfied there and when the members of the tribe
learned that he was coming back they threatened to
kill him. Some sort of slow poison was administered
i him and as a result of this he died while enroute
ome.”
211
Before his final departure for the west he had
built an elegant and substantial residence, on the
reservation west of Huntington, Indiana. It is still
occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Archangel Engle-
man, her children and grandchildren. The house is
located on the route of the Fort Wayne and northern
Indiana traction line, directly opposite the Club
House of the Huntington County Club, which organ-
ization leases its tract from Mrs. Engleman. The
house is roomy, well furnished and a delightful and
hospitable home.
Francis LaFontaine, chief of the Miamis, has been
honored by his name being attached to a beautiful
country town in the southern part of Wabash coun-
ty, Indiana.
Upon his death, the chieftiancy passed to his
grandson, Joseph LaFontaine Engleman, the eldest
son of Mrs. Archangel Engleman. With the death
of the latter chief, which occurred at the home
west of Huntington March 3, 1914, the last chief
of the Miamis passed away.
The order was sent forth by the LaFontaine-
Engleman family that no more chiefs were to be
elected by the remnant of the Miamis.
Death and amalgamation with the dominant race
having finally destroyed the last organized remnant
of this great tribe.
Mrs. Engleman remarked on the death of her son,
that the office held in high esteem from immemorial
ages by the once powerful Miamis died with him,
and became a past honor.
“Yes, say they have all passed away,
That noble race and brave;
That their light canoes have vanished
From off the crested wave;
That ’mid the forests where they roamed
There rings no hunter’s shout,
But their names are on our waters
And ye cannot wash them out.”
—Mrs. Sigourney.
XIII.
KIL-SO-QUAH—THE PRINCESS.
Kil-so-quah, daughter of Wak-shin-gay (The Cres-
cent Moon) and Wah-wa-ka-mo-kwa (the First
Snow Woman), who was the daughter of She-nock-
e-wish, one of the bravest of the Miami warriors.
Kil-so-quah was born near the Wabash river, a
short distance west of Huntington, Indiana, May,
1810. Her first husband was a Miami Indian (nick-
named John Owl). His death occurred shortly af-
ter their marriage. She then married Anthony Re-
varre, whose Indian name was Shoop-in-a-wah (or
AME. Jung v
KIL-SO-QUAH (THE SETTING SUN)
Full blooded Miami Indian and Granddaughter of Chief Little Turtle.
Born May, 1810. Died September 4, 1915.
Thunder Storm). He was a half breed French and
Indian trader. He died in 1846, and was buried
by the side of Chief: Coessie, near Roanoke, Indiana.
On August 4, 1913, the writer of these pages, in
company with Mr. J. M. Stouder, paid a visit to
Roanoke, sixteen miles southwest of Fort Wayne,
Huntington county, and called on Dr. S. Koontz, who
kindly directed us to the home of Kil-so-quah (The
Setting Sun), about a mile distant. We found her
seated in a great arm rocking chair, enjoying reason-
212
213
ably good health for one of her age, with eyesight
somewhat dim. After introduction and presents of
tobacco and other trinkets being made, and the
smoking ceremony finished, a conversation followed,
through the son “Tony” as interpreter, she being
unable to speak English. Mr. Stouder mentioned
the accidental find of the grave of her grandfather,
and the care he had taken to place a marker over
the remains, so the exact spot could never again be-
come lost and of the prospect in the near future of a
suitable monument to mark the grave. The writer
confirmed this statement of facts, having seen
the marble slab with name and date thereon:
“Little Turtle, Born 1752, Died 1812”. She asked
about the relics found with him, which she
thought unquestionable, and seemed very much
pleased when informed that they were all together
in one case in a fireproof building, and would be
sacredly preserved. When we left the place she
desired her son to inform us that she fervently
thanked God for the interest the two white men took
in honoring her with a visit, and especially for the
tribute of honor paid by them to her distinguished
grandfather.
A copy of the Journal-Gazette contained an article
at the time of the discovery of Little Turtle’s re-
mains, which was taken to her, and before her son
commenced to read it, she gave a very accurate ac-
count of the location of the grave and told, within
a few hundred feet, where it was located. She
told of the sword, and described the various things
which were buried with him, on account of his rank.
She claimed she had seen him often, and remem-
bered distinctly of combing his hair, and of being
his favorite grandchild. She said during her young-
er days she had often visited his grave. She was
fr years and two months old when her grandfather
ied.
Mrs. Matilda Wheelock, in the Indianapolis Star
of August 22, 1909, tells us that the old chief, her
royal grandfather, used to come to her father’s
home at Miami Park, west of Huntington, and com-
214
plaining that his hair had not been combed for many
days, smiling a whimsical invitation for his tiny
eranddaughter to perform that service for him.
“Whereupon,” she continues, ‘“‘the little Kil-so-quah
climbed into the royal lap, planted her sturdy feet
tirmly upon the chieftain’s knee, and with his arms
to steady her, delightfully proceeded with her pleas-
ing task.”
Those familiar with the traditions of the Miamis,
say that the girl as a child delighted to torment her
grandfather by pulling his hair and playing child-
ish pranks upon him. She says her mother often
told her that she was born during the Great Spirit’s
cheerful smile, as the wild woods were full of
flowers and the wild berries near at hand.
Kil-so-quah, as a littile papoose two or three years
old, sat on the knee of the greatest Miami Indian
ever known, more than one hundred (100) years
ago, and as she combed his hair the great chief told
her the story of the battle of Fort St. Clair, near
Eaton, Ohio, in which Little Turtle so disastrously
defeated Major Adair, and his Kentuckians. She
says that he was very proud of his appearance, and
especially of his raven black hair, which, to comb
and braid was a favorite pastime for him and her
alike. She remembers distinctly of his going to
sleep purposely, and of whacking him on the head
with the back of the comb in order to keep him
awake.
Kil-so-quah had a remarkable memory and loved
to talk of this battle, through her son Anthony Re-
varre. She had a vivid recollection of what was
called ‘‘the falling of the stars”, November 13, 1833.
Her son was known to the Indians and white peo-
ple as Little White Loon (Wah-pl-mon-qwah) in
order to distinguish him from his uncle White
Loon, who died at the age of one hundred and ten
years (110), and is still remembered by the old
settlers of Roanoke for his wild rides on a terrified
pony, when he was under the influence of liquor.
Kil-so-quah, last of the full blooded Miami Indian
royalty, who lived in the Wabash or Maumee valley
215
before the white man overran Indiana, died Satur-
day morning at 3:30 a. m., September 4, 1915, at her
home one mile southeast of Roanoke. The old Indian
Princess had been confined to her bed for two weeks
and was Seriously ill for several days. Friday she
had rallied from a semi-conscious state and then
Saturday morning the end came suddenly. She died
quietly, without a struggle, for death was only a
break in the well worn thread of life. She was one
hundred and five (105) years old the preceding May.
At the bedside at the time of her death, were the
faithful son “Tony”, Dr. Koontz and a few kind
friends.
Her name, “The Setting Sun’, is curiously appro-
priate, since she is the last full blooded representa-
tive of a barbarous tribe prominent in early Amer-
ican history. For, while to us their defense of their
vast lands, of which they could use only a part,
seems selfish, yet it was none other than the crop-
ping out of that instinct common to all of us—an
iron willed desire to keep that which we rightfully
own.
Kil-so-quah was, without a doubt, one of the most
interesting survivors of the royal families of the
vanishing race. She had retained her native lan-
guage, and, to a large extent, the customs of the
- Indians through years of contact with none of her
race, except her son Anthony Revarre.
She learned probably less than a score of Eng-
lish words; among them “rheumatism” was most
frequently used. For years Kil-so-quah had been
afflicted with rheumatism, and her association of
that word with her painful ailment made it one of
the few she could comprehend. |
A government grant of land in Ohio, was made to
her husband, but he traded it for three hundred
and twenty (320) acres near Roanoke, which land
he farmed for sixteen years. He died in 1846, and
was buried near Roanoke, by the side of Kil-so-
quah’s cousin, Chief Coessie, whose husband had
owned this half section of land, which dwindled
to the forty (40) acres on which stands the little
216
frame house which was the widow’s home, and
where Anthony now lives.
Two children survive, namely: the son Anthony,
who cared for her for years, and Mrs. Mary E.
Taylor, of Oklahoma.
“Tony” has been called an Indian hunter, and
while he never made much of a success at farming
the land on which they lived, he always took good
care of his mother and was her most faithful com-
panion.
He has not been without his share of sorrow. He
married Millie Downs, a white school teacher, and
they lived happily together until ten years ago when
she died. Tony, now seventy years old, never recov-
ered from the shock of his wife’s death.
A few months ago Kil-so-quah’s daughter, Mary
E. Taylor, arrived at Roanoke from the Miami res-
ervation in Oklahoma, where she has a home of her
own, and is employed as a teacher in an Indian
school. Her Indian name is Town-ne-com-quah
(Blowing Snow) and she assisted in taking care of
her aged mother. She is quite a genteel and cour-
teous lady, with an English education, writing for
me very plainly her Indian name and address, and
its meaning.
Six children were born to Kil-so-quah and her last
husband, four of whom died while young. Mary,
the daughter, went to Oklahoma several years ago
and married an Indian Civil War veteran, who died
a short time later. For some years all trace of her
was lost, when finally she applied for a widow’s
pension, and Dr. S. Koontz, of Roanoke, located her
from the Pension Bureau. Soon the lost daughter
returned for a visit with Kil-so-quah. She contin-
ued to reside in Oklahoma, but made yearly trips
back to Roanoke to see her mother. There are no
grandchildren, so this branch of Little Turtle’s fam-
ily will shortly become extinct.
During her declining years “Setting Sun” clung
tenaciously to the many relics of her ancestors, and
not for any sum would she part with them. It was
only when her advanced age compelled her to do
217
so that she deserted the wigwam, the last remain-
ne thread between her primitive past and civilized
ife.
In 1899, the little log cabin, which was the home
of Kil-so-quah and “Little White Loon”, burned to
the ground. Many relics and curios of the Miamis,
and of the family were destroyed, some of which
were of great value to museums and _ collectors.
Most prized by Kil-so-quah of the property saved
was a little shirt and a pair of moccasins, which her
- son had worn nearly seventy years before.
Until rheumatism made her an invalid, no old
settlers’ meeting, or like event, was complete in this
part of the country without her presence. Seated
on a platform she would smilingly receive the atten-
tion of curious crowds, not understanding the cause
of her prominence, but being gratified by it.
As an invalid she was as pathetic a figure as his-
tory reveals or fiction describes. Practically os-
tracized by her failure to speak English, she alter-
nated between an arm chair and her bed. Hours,
days and weeks she spent sewing diamond shaped
figures on great quilts. During the latter part of her
life, even the solace of work was taken from her by
failing vision. All this she accepted stolidly and
without complaint, illustrating a prominent charac-
teristic of the Indian race.
Her remark, translated by an interpreter, tells
of her plight more clearly than all that has been
written, “When I am busy I think of my work; when
I am idle I think of how poor and alone I am”.
None of the stimulating excitement and romance
with which Cooper surrounded Uncas and his father
in “The Last of the Mohicans” relieved her
uneventful life. The last of the pure blooded
Miamis, and descendant of a long line of chieftains,
she stoically dragged out the years in which a re-
markable vitality kept life in her body.
Kil-so-quah held to the customs of her tribe and
lived in her wigwam until about ten years ago,
when it fell to pieces from wear. She then occupied
218
a room on the second floor of her cabin until it was
destroyed by fire.
She delighted in relating her early adventures,
and especially one which occurred soon after her
marriage. Upon hearing the baying of hounds she
picked up a small hatchet and made her way to
where the dogs had a large deer at bay, and from
behind a tree she killed the deer by a blow from
the weapon, and said that the white hunters toted
the game away without offering her a mess of the
venison.
She had also presented a great many people with
curios, among which is a miniature canoe she made
for Dr. Koontz in 1910, the centennial year of her
age, in appreciation for tobacco he had taken her.
With the death of Kil-so-quah, the old Indian
Princess, a curious incident, illustrating the singular
way in which her mind worked, came to light. Her
primitive ideas of life and death never deserted her,
and a transaction she made eight years ago with
Dr. Koontz, of Roanoke, her physician and family
advisor, best bears this out. Anthony Revarre, the
father of the only living son of Kil-so-quah, died
many years ago. About eight years ago his bones
were taken up and it was then that she sent for Dr.
Koontz. When he arrived, through her son “Tony”
as interpreter, she told him her desire. The grave
of her husband was soon to be lost, as the ground
was being cleared, and she did not know where to
place his remains and asked if he would take them
up and place them in a box, and keep them in his
office until she was called by the Great Spirit. She
wanted them to be buried with her, and she did not
know where the last resting place would be. Would
he do that for an old woman? Accordingly, Dr.
Koontz, William Koontz, James Barbour and Dr.
Reed, of Fort Wayne, took up the bones of Kil-so-
quah’s husband, and those of Chief Coessie. The
former were preserved and kept in the office of Dr.
Koontz, at her wish, and in a neat little box covered
with black cloth were interred with her remains,
and once again the lovers are united.
219
The last public meeting Kil-so-quah attended in
Roanoke was in 1910, in her one hundredth anniver-
sary, although as late as August 20, 1914, she at-
tended the old settlers’ meeting at Columbia City.
On Sunday, September 27, 1914, a reunion was held
at the oid homestead of all the Indians in this part
of the State, and about forty-five were present. A
war-dance was enjoyed and music was furnished
by Kil-so-quah with an old pan and stick. This was
one of the most enjoyable occasions of her recent
years, as she was in the company of her own people,
who could talk freely with her. Dr. Koontz and
family were also present, as she always insisted that
he be present at all of her gatherings. He had been
her family physician for years, and she relied solely
on his judgment as to where to go on all occasions.
Members of the tribe who were present were:
George Slussman, Mrs. Archangel Engleman, Mrs.
Judson Bundy Engleman, Richard Godfrey, Mrs.
Stella Weber, Mr. and Mrs. Howard and daughter
Josephine, John, Charles and Lawrence Engleman,
Miss Eva Godfrey, Miss Lettie Engleman, Miss Vio-
la Godfrey, Mr. and Mrs. James Bruel, James
Barnes, Christ Engleman, William Cass, William
Balser, John Engleman, Lawrence Weber, Elmer
Bruel, Eliza Bruel, Sylvester Godfrey, James Burrel,
John Owens, Clarence Godfrey, George Chance, wife
and daughter. These were the invited guests who
were present, with possibly a few others not herein
mentioned.
Thus with the passing of Kil-so-quah to the happy
hunting ground, we lose the last of the royal Miamis
and the oldest resident of the State of Indiana, who
had enjoyed a national reputation.
The funeral services of Kil-so-quah were held at
Roanoke, in the St. Joseph’s Catholic church, by
Father Schmit of the Nix settlement on Tuesday
the 7th, at 9 a. m., and consisted of the requiem
high mass, by the presiding priest, after which they
immediately proceeded to the grave, located in the
circle of the I. O. O. F. graveyard, on the west side
of the Fort Wayne road, one-half mile north of Roa-
220
noke, and blessed the grounds. The remains were
left in the church awaiting the arrival of the daugh-
ter, Mary E. Taylor, in charge of Doretta E. Miller,
of Roanoke, until Friday, at which time they were
buried, the daughter having arrived on Thursday
evening.
The bones of the second husband of Kil-so-quah,
Anthony Revarre, were neatly placed in a box cov-
ered with black cloth, and placed crosswise in the
grave at the head of Kil-so-quah. Our correspond-
ent says that he saw the grave and box of bones
therein, but did not return for the burial on Fri-
day. Kil-so-quah was a Catholic, but her son
“Tony” was not.
When Kil-so-quah was born James Madison was
President of the United States. Indiana was not
yet admitted as a State. Only one President (Wash-
ington) had died. Abraham Lincoln was only one
year old. Daniel Boone was still hunting in the for-
ests of Kentucky. The Battle of Tippecanoe was
fought when she was only one year old. The War
of 1812 began when she was two years old. When
she was born Perry had not met and defeated the
British on Lake Erie. The nation itself was young.
The Declaration of Independence was then a matter
of recent history, it being only thirty-four years old.
The War of the Revolution was more vivid in the
minds of the people than the Civil War is at the
present time. Take the inventions, and you get a.
better idea of progress in the same length of time.
There were no railroads, for she was twenty years
old when the first railroad was built. There were
no electric lights, nor street cars, no telephones or
graphophones. There were no shoe factories, the
itinerant cobbler traveled from place to place and
made up the family order. There were no news-
papers as we know them today, no reapers, mowers,
road machinery, and no roads worthy of the name.
Timber on the farm was a detriment, not an asset.
Take political conditions and you have another
glimpse of what has come to pass in the life of Kil-
so-quah. When the Indian Princess was born the
221
two strong political parties were contending over the
issue as to whether the State or National Govern-
ment was the stronger. An issue that was settled
only by the Civil War, but an issue that is now al-
most lost sight of in the background of political his-
tory, and is revived only in such sophistries as home
government. Indeed, the party that then called for
a loose central government has now advanced to the
position where it advocates an even stronger cen-
tralization than the centralized party of that time
demanded. And all this has come about because the
various means of communication has united the
country, and because with this unity common inter-
ests have broadened and expanded until the condi-
tion of one coast affects conditions on the other.
Let us look at the development of the country for
a moment. In 1810, when Kil-so-quah was born,
the shooting of Alexander Hamilton was still fresh
in the minds of the people. Andrew Jackson had
not yet fought his famous battle at New Orleans.
Napoleon had just sold the Louisiana Territory to
the United States. It was a worthless little tract,
extending far up the valley of the Mississippi. It
was a mere bagatelle, a mere territory of marsh,
river and hill, to which Napoleon had tied a string,
so that if occasion arose he could pull it back again
into the French Empire.
In those days the wild west began to the west of
the Allegheny mountains. In those days the white
man had scarcely begun his real conquest of Ohio
or Indiana. Within the memories of Kil-so-quah
Indiana had been made a great State. The native
Indian has become almost extinct and civilization
has so swept the country from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, that one may ride the trolley car through
some parts of the Rocky mountains.
If all this has happened within the life of one
woman whose longevity we may for example say is
twice the normal, what may we expect within the
next hundred, nay within the next fifty years?
The weight of many moons hung over her head,
the once jet black hair and piercing eye that was
222
dimmed with age, while this Indian Princess of the
long ago quietly awaited the call to the happy hunt-
ing grounds, with that same stoical indifference that
has characterized her name and race. She did not
live in the present age, her thoughts dwelt in the
days of the long ago, when, free and unhampered
by the bonds of civilization, she watched the oncom-
ing hordes of whites, that was ultimately destined
to oust her people from their primeval haunts. She
had little knowledge of what was transpiring today,
and was little concerned about the things of tomor-
row.
With marvelous tenacity of body she bid fair to
see many more moons pass by in endless routine.
Her joys were gone, fled with the race that is fast
passing into oblivion, with the exception of one, and
that was a little charred and blackened pipe. Thrice
daily this little old pipe was lighted, by the helping
hands of her son or daughter, who consecrated
themselves to the solace of her dying days, and she
would puff away contentedly and dream of the days
of yore. Despite her age, her intellect was still
sharp, and she chattered of the old days in the dead
language of the Miamis, and related anecdotes of
her childhood with startling ease. A red bandanna
handkerchief, a relic of the past, encircled her grey
head, and she was garbed in a plain calico dress.
Two plain gold band rings were on the fingers of
the left hand, gifts, it is said, of the days when the
Miamis ruled the Wabash and the Miami valleys.
They went to the grave with her, as such is the cus-
tom of the red men, that the jewels prized in life
should accompany the owner on the journey into
the happy hunting grounds.
That she came to a chieftain’s household during
the May moon, 1810, on the forks of the Wabash
river below Huntington, Indiana, where she grew
to be a free child of the wilderness; that we our-
selves have seen Kil-so-quah in her declining years,
is something that affords us a pleasure of no small
degree, and as time rolls on, future generations will
step into the limelight of the historian’s pen, and
223
read of the great Miami Confederacy as it was when
the white man entered their wilderness domain,
down to the time when the last full blooded Miami
Indian, Kil-so-quah, passed from this stage of action
and now gently sleeps on the western hills of the
Little river, near Roanoke, within a few miles of
Aboit creek, where her illustrious grandfather
gained his first victory over Labalme.
Kil-so-quah, her husband and daughter-in-law,
and finally ‘‘Tony” himself when death shall come,
will all be interred inside the circle of the I. O. O. F.
graveyard which was kindly donated to them for
this purpose, her son being a member of the Red-
men and Odd Fellows. It is more than likely that
a historical monument will be erected to the mem-
ory of Kil-so-quah, the last full blooded Miami In-
dian.
“Faded the summer day,
Gone to its rest,
Far in the roseate
Isles of the west,
And in the quiet sky
Softly and bright,
Glimmering stars
Gem the pathway of night.
“Thus when Life’s evening
Around us doth close,
Calmly and still,
May we sink to respose;
When the lone twilight
Is breathing the spell
Biding ye fondly
Bright visions—farewell.”
—Anonymous.
XIV.
THE GODFREY FAMILY.
The Godfrey family was one of the most interest-
ing and notable of the Miami nation in northern In-
diana for many years.
Probably the first spelling of their family name
was Godefree, which is the old French form of the
name, corrupted later into Godfri, and written at
ee present time by the family near Peru as God-
rey.
TREATY MEDAL ANDREW JACKSON
Near Peru, Ind , 1829, now in possession of Peter Godfrey.
Presented to Francis Godfrey Debulion, Miami Treaty, 1829.
The early ancestor of the family was Francis
Godfrey, the son of a French trader by the daugh-
ter of an Indian chief named Osage. This Francis
Godfrey was a war chief among the Miamis. He
married a Miami woman and they made their home
along the Wabash river near Peru. Their son,
James, born in this home in 1810, moved in 1844 to
Allen county and here married a daughter of Chief
LaFontaine. They had twelve children, all born
on the Indian Reservation near Fort Wayne.
224
225
Another son of Francis Godfrey was Gabriel God-
frey, who established his home near Peru, Indiana,
and became known as Chief of the Miamis. It be-
ing customary for some of the newspapers to speak
of every Miami living in those later days as a chief
whether he had been or not.
The death of Francis Godfrey, the ancestor of the
Godfrey’s occurred in 1840, the year before the
death of Chief Richardville.
As mentioned above Francis Godfrey’s first wife
was a Miami woman, named Soc-a-jag-wa, whom
he married early in life. In later years he chose
for a second wife a half breed girl, twenty years
of age, a daughter of Francis Slocum. The first
wife, still living, remained in the home and became
a voluntary servant. i
Francis Godfrey was an able war chief, and af-
terward in the treaties made with the government
was given six sections of land near Peru, and for a
time was engaged in the mercantile trade.
In his great log, castlelike home he lived like an
English lord, keeping about his house many ser-
vants and dispensing hospitality to his guests with
a cheer and liberality that made him known far and
near. 3
It was under these circumstances that the first
wife realized that her youthful beauty had to some
extent faded away, and that she pleased no longer
his guests. The latter as a rule, were cultured
white people, who suggested that he select a young
wife—one whose beauty and graces would shine as
an ornament in the palatial home and correspond
with the style of living which fortune had wafted
to him, very largely because of the fact that he was
an Indian Chief. Thus it came that Francis God-
frey married the daughter of Francis Slocum.
The life story of the mother is a very interesting
one. We will not give it here, but refer the reader
to J. P. Dunn’s “True Indian Stories’, page 213,
on “The Lost Sister of Wyoming”. We are told
that the first born by the second wife was none oth-
226
er than Gabriel Godfrey, who died near Peru only
a few years ago.
In the fall of the year 1914, we visited the home
of Peter Godfrey, who lives four miles east of Peru.
This man is a son of Gabriel Godfrey, and a great
grandson of Francis Slocum. While here we were
treated with due courtesy, and were shown some of
CLARENCE GODFREY, PERU, INDIANA
Great Grandson of Chief Francis Godfrey Debulion and Grandson of Chief
Gabriel Godfrey, Great Grandson of Francis Slocum,
the lost Sister of Wyoming.
the old Miami heirlooms, no doubt worn by an In-
dian Princess more than a hundred years ago; one
a ladies’ sack, ornamented with more than one hun-
dred silver brooches, one silver medal two and one-
half inches in diameter presented to Francis God-
frey on Treaty creek, Miami county, Indiana, at a
treaty there held in 1829, with the inscription
“Andrew Jackson, President’, on one side, and a
227
bust of Andrew Jackson on the other, in addition
to an engraving of tomahawk and peace pipe and
handle of tomahawk crossing one another. Another
medal two inches in diameter was shown which had
been presented at the same treaty to Captain Brue-
ret, who married another daughter of Francis Slo-
cum. |
In the year 1900, a creditable monument was
erected at the Indian cemetery, ten miles east of
Peru, on the banks of the Mississinewa river, by
public subscription, at the grave of Frances Slocum
(The Lost Sister of Wyoming). One of her grand-
daughters married one Mr. Bundie, who was a Bap-
tist preacher. His granddaughter, Victoria Bun-
die, who now lives in Peru, was one who helped to
unveil the monument of her great grandmother, in
the year 1900.
We herewith present a photo of Clarence God-
frey, grandson of Gabriel Godfrey, dressed in true
Indian apparel as he appeared, when playing the
warrior in the Indian show, a few years ago.
The Raccoon (A-say-pong) Sachem of the Miamis
had a village on the west bank of Little river, twelve
miles southwest of Fort Wayne, now on the present
farm of John Zetsman. Here the Raccoon chief
dwelt in a brick house more than a hundred years
ago.
Dr. Koontz, an old resident of Roanoke, tells us
that the oldest inhabitant can tell nothing about the
date when this house was built, or from whence
came the bricks of which it was constructed. This
old house has long since been removed and nothing
remains but a few brick bats. On this site Mr.
Zetsman found a gold watch chain, steel tomahawks,
and a very fine flint spear, of which we became the
owner. The oldest settlers say that this old house
was scarred by bullets from the Indians’ rifle, both
inside and out, through the plastering, overhead, and
through the roof, for some unaccountable reason.
228
CHIEF COESSIE.
Chief Coessie was a son of Ma-kah-ta-mon-quah,
or Black Loon, and a grandson of Me-she-kin-no-
quah, and lived the major part of his life on Eel
river, in what is now Whitley county, Indiana.
His name is honored by calling a town after him
in the above county, on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne
and Chicago railroad, near the former location of
Chapines reservation on Eel river.
He was one of the principal orators at his grand-
father’s funeral, at Fort Wayne, July, 1812, on
which occasion he narrated the principal events in
the life of his grandfather and pronounced a strong
eulogy on him. Surely no one could have been bet-
ter qualified for this task than he who had known
him in his later days so perfectly and so well.
Coessie is said, to a certain extent, to have in-
herited some of those noble qualities of mind and
heart from his grandfather, Little Turtle.
He died in 1854, his only son having died the year
before. The latter was buried at his home, now the
Stouff farm, one and one-half miles east of Columbia
City, Indiana. Coessie’s wife and two daughters
remained on the farm, near Eel river, Whitley
county, Indiana, until the spring of 1868, when they
sold it and removed to Roanoke, where they have
long since died, having no descendants, to the writ-
er’s knowledge.
Coessie’s first burial was down on Little river,
near Roanoke, by the side of Mr. Revarre, Kil-so-
quah’s husband.
A committee from the old settlers’ association of
Whitley county went to Roanoke, Huntington coun-
ty, Indiana, in 1910, and obtained permission to dis-
inter the remains and bring them to Columbia City
for burial on the Court House Square, where they
proposed to erect a memorial of some sort. They
obtained permission to leave the remains temporar-
ily in the storage vault of the First National Bank,
of Columbia City, until the day of their annual meet-
ing. In the meantime certain oldtime citizens, who
229
were unable to look at the project in a broad way,
as an historical memorial, insisted on raking up
ancient prejudices against the individual, Coessie,
because he lived in a manner displeasing to them
and contrary to their ideas.
The adverse sentiment created left the committee
nothing to do but to drop the matter. Disposition
was asked for the bones of Coessie, but so far none
has been made. This storm of opposition from the
citizens at the time has delayed the execution of this
design. So the remains of Coessie, a grandchild
of Little Turtle, have been held in the vault ot the
Columbia City Bank for the past six years, and may
remain there for an indefinite period. They still
hope at some future time to accomplish their object,
and to erect a statue suitable to his name and honor.
Coessie was a Pottawattomie nickname, by which
he was commonly known. His true Miami name
was Me-tek-kyah, meaning forest or woods.
EVA C. CORTHELL.
Through correspondence with Mrs. Eva C. Cor-
thell, 2333 Silver street, Jacksonville, Florida, we
received a statement in regard to the children of
Captain William Wells. She never knew of any but
her grandmother (Jane Wells Griggs) and a sister;
and at the time of the first .Dearborn trouble, or
probably prior to that time, Captain William Wells
sent his wife and two daughters back to his people
in Kentucky, where the two girls had instructions in
needlework, etc., from the Catholic sisters.
Mrs. Corthell says that her grandmother, Jane
Griggs, had ten children, the oldest of whom died
some five years ago. The next uncle, Chas. Sumner,
is dead, having left a son, Warren Griggs, a tailor by
trade, who now resides in Peru, Indiana. One sis-
ter, the youngest, died many years ago, leaving five
children, all of whom received a good education.
The mother of Eva Corthell, Martha J. Spaulding,
daughter of Jane Griggs, was next to the youngest
child. There were five of the Spaulding children of
EVA C. CORTHELL
Great Great Granddaughter of Chief Little Turtle, and Great Grand-
daughter of Captain William Wells, in native Indian costume.
Taken at Chicago, September 1, 1912.
230
231
whom Eva C. was the eldest. This lady has been
living in Florida for the last fourteen years, whither
she had gone for the benefit of failing health, and
now calls this state her permanent home. She is
now forty-nine years old, and is very proud of her
Indian ancestry and blood.
Her sister, Mrs. Jeannette Thornton, is forty-
four; her brother Frank is forty-one; and Charles
is thirty-eight.
Other uncles and aunts of the ten Griggs children
were married, but most of them died young without
children. Uncle Oliver and Warren have been dead
many years.
Anthony Wayne Griggs, the uncle who recently
died, and the mother of Mrs. Eva Corthell, who died
a couple years ago, were the last survivors of the
family.
Through the courtesy of this estimable little lady,
Eva C. Corthell, we present herewith a reproduc-
tion of her photograph in Indian costume. The ar-
tist was very much pleased with her in the Indian
attire, and said that she showed plainly traces of
the blood of heroes. She informs us that for some
cause her parents kept the fact of her Indian blood
in the background, until she was a woman, and had
become mistress of herself: She says that life with
her was a tragedy from the beginning, the loss of
mother, husband and child having been the cause of
many a lonesome hour.
“Slow pass our days in childhood
Thus our golden moments goeth by
Rapidly they glide in manhood
And in life’s decline they fly.”
Vi,
ROMANTIC EPISODES.
LA SALLE AT THE MIAMI VILLAGES.
“Should you ask me, whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations,
As of thunder in the mountains?
I should answer, I should tell you,
From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands.”’
—Hiawatha.
The earliest white settlers in the town of Fort
Wayne, Indiana, were Mrs. Laura Suttenfield and
her husband, who settled within the enclosure of the
old fort in 1814. Mrs. Suttenfield came as a bride
of eighteen years and remained here until her death
—a period of seventy-two long and eventful years.
To this couple was born a daughter, November 29.
1817—the first female white child in the history of
the place.
The following story, as well as a few others of
like nature, have been handed down in memory
through some two hundred years without being
printed by the inquisitive historian or the effusive
newspaper writer until July 22, 1911, when it ap-
peared in one of the Fort Wayne dailies. Mr. Frank
Dildine, a well known newspaper correspondent, se-
232
233
cured the tale from the old pioneer mother, Mrs.
Suttenfield.
These stories are not pure fiction, but are based
on facts printed in the pages of local history or as
magazine articles on early events or the reminis-
cences of pioneers, who were here while the Miami
Indians were here. With some of these oldest pion-
eers it was Mr. Dildine’s good fortune to be inti-
mately acquainted. They are retold here by the
consent and through the courtesy of the above
named gentleman. They are told in his own way
with the fact still remaining.
“The Miamis belonged to the Algonquin group,
one of the great Indian families of the north, and
desiring to secure a new location, they sent out their
explorers in search of it. These explorers skirted
the coast of the lakes and then, turning into the
rivers, rowed along them. Near the junction of the
St. Marys and the St. Joseph at the head of the
Maumee they found the ideal spot. It was here the
Miamis established their home which they called
Kekionga. This was their capital in connection
with other places in this region, among the most
notable of which was the famous Little Turtle vil-
lage near Blue River Lake twenty miles distant,
where Little Turtle was born and where his father
had lived long before this event occurred.
“‘Among the western tribes there were none great-
er or more powerful. They were brave in battle,
feared by their enemies, and sought as allies by
other tribes needing their assistance. In peace they
were hospitable, kind and true; in war they were
fearless and crafty. They played an important part
in moulding the destinies of the old Northwest re-
gion of the country and left a deep impression upon
our early history.
“Tt was the summer of 1679—or possibly 1680—
in the month of May, that an Indian maiden, wan-
dering along the river’s shore, saw in the distance
a fleet of canoes coming up the stream, eight in all,
as she counted them. The blades of the paddles
sparkled in the sunlight and the water dripping
234
from them reflected its many colored hues. As they
approached nearer she saw that the occupants were
not of her people, and, with the exception of two,
were not Indians, being dressed in different garb
—a garb for men she had never seen before. Who
were they? What was the purpose of these strange
people in coming to the Miami village? Did they
come as friends or enemies? 'These were the ques-
tions she asked herself, and, without waiting for an
answer, she hurried with fleet feet to the Miami
village, only a short distance away, and told her
startling news. Soon all was excitement in the
Indian abode. The alarm was given and the war-
riors hurriedly seized their bows and arrows, for
these were their weapons of defense, and hastened
to the river banks prepared, if necessary, to resist
any attack the invaders of their homes and hunting
grounds might make.
“Tt was LaSalle and his men—a company of some
thirty consisting of French soldiers, his lieutenants
and assistants and two Indian guides on one of their
exploring expeditions. LaSalle and his men, how-
ever, had witnessed many such scenes before. They
had visited Indian settlements in Canada along the
St. Lawrence river; in Michigan, on the shores of
Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit river,
and at points skirting Lake Erie in Ohio. For ten
years LaSalle had been engaged in this work.
“It was at a point on the Maumee near the con-
fluence of the St. Marys and St. Joseph that the
Miamis had assembled to await the coming of La-
Salle and his party who had halted their canoes
some distance down the river, apparently for con-
sultation. Among the Indians all was excitement
for they knew not the strangers. Finally one of the
canoes pulled to the shore and one of the Indian
guides, LaSalle and two soldiers alighted and ap-
proached the wondering Miamis bearing the calu-
met, the pipe of peace. Seeing that the white men
were on a friendly mission, the Miami Chief, Big
Horn, and three of his warriors met LaSalle and his
companions. The conversation was carried on
239
through one of the Indian guides with LaSalle’s
party and after the calumet had been offered by La-
Salle and passed around to each of the Indians who
took a whiff in turn, LaSalle said:
“T come to you as a friend and brother and wish
to establish relations by which we can carry on a
lasting business in the furs which you get by hunt-
ing. I will pay you for them in guns and powder,
knives, hatchets, kettles, beads and many other ar-
ticles that we Frenchmen have in our country and
which you have not. Thus we can do you good and
you can do us good. We can be brothers.
“T have heard of you,” replied the Indian Chief.
“Our runners, who have been among the Miamis of
the North and other tribes, have told us about you.
We have two of your guns and some powder and
knives. This country is rich in fur animals. We greet
you, we welcome you among us. Our wigwams will be
open to you as long as you care to stay.” LaSalle
thereupon explained to the chief that their stay with
them could be only for a day or two and stated that
their storehouse and the vessel in which they kept
their European goods were on the lakes. | Eventual-
ly they expected to establish a trading post at the
villages. He had brought along only a few articles
some of which he would give to them as presents.
Suiting the action to the word he summoned the
little fleet of canoes to approach. From one canoe
he took several hatchets, knives, etc., which he dis-
tributed among the warriors. To the women were
given ribbons, cloths, stockings, gloves and articles
of apparel.
“In the evening a great feast was served in the
Miami villages in honor of the French visitors. The
menu comprised buffalo, bear and deer meats cut
from the tenderest and juiciest parts; fish fresh from
the rivers; fruits of different kinds; corn bread and
honey. The health of the guests was drunk in pure,
cold spring water. Rum, which afterward proved
their curse, had not yet found its way into the homes
of the Miamis.
“LaSalle and his party remained with the Miamis
236
for two days. They were treated royally, paid high
honor and permitted to relax and enjoy the occa-
sion. The day after their arrival the Indians par-
ticipated in games of various kinds. It was a day
of pleasure to all and when LaSalle left on his jour-
ney it was with the promise that he would return
in a short time, and establish a post at the village
which would give the Miamis a means of exchang-
ing the furs of the wild animals which they caught
for articles of civilized manufacture desired by
them.”
MERVIELLE AND BRIGHT EYES.
With the LaSalle parties who first visited the
Miami villages at the head of the Maumee in 1680,
was a young French officer named Ferdinand Mer-
vielle. His love of adventure was the motive that
had prompted him to come to America with the
trader and explorer. He had been with him in all
his travels, and was familiar with the Indian ways
and had learned much of their language; he was
skilled in the science of surveying and his specialty
with the LaSalle party was the preparation of the
charts giving the travel ways and general map of
the regions visited by the explorer. These charts
and maps were afterward forwarded to the French
government. The survey for the preparation of
these charts had not been completed when LaSalle
left the Miami village. And so Mervielle remained
and with him an assistant and an Indian guide. The
work was an important one because of the location,
this being a strategic point at the confluence of the
three rivers, the Maumee flowing into Lake Erie and
the important diverging branches, the St. Joseph
and St. Marys. Short trips into the surrounding
country had to be made so Mervielle remained here
several days, probably weeks. He was purposely
slow in completing his task, and this was the secret
of his delay. Among the Indian maidens he met and
whom he became acquainted with was one known in
her tribe as Bright Eyes, so called (the Miamis ex-
237
plained) , because her eyes were like the pearls found
on the lake shores.
She was the fairest maiden of her tribe; the
daughter of one of the chiefs and loved by all. It
was this Indian girl that first won Mervielle’s fancy
and afterward his love. Day after day they met in
the forests nearby and passed the hours together,
meeting by accident at first, for Bright Eyes loved
the forests and from early childhood delighted to
roam them. But after their first few meetings by
appointment, and during their happy days the In-
dian girl had learned what true love was, so too,
had the Frenchman. After finishing his work one
afternoon Mervielle started out in search of the
Indian girl and found her seated on the river’s bank
beneath a large oak tree, their favorite meeting
place, and stealing upon her silently saw that she was
so deeply engaged in her own thoughts, that she had
not noticed his approach until he stood directly in
front of her. As she lifted her eyes a glad look
came into them, and in a voice in which there was a
ring of the happiness she felt, she exclaimed, ‘Oh,
it’s you. I’m so glad.” “And of what were you
thinking so deeply,” he asked, “‘as not to have noticed
my approach? Of the beauty of the sunlit fleeting
clouds and the sparkling waters, or of yourself,
your happy past and what the future has in store for
you?” “I think perhaps my thoughts might be called
dreams,” she replied. “I am given to day dreams
when I am seated here alone.” “What was the na-
ture of, your dreams today,” he asked. “I guess my
mind was over in France that home of yours about
which you have told so much.” “And to which I must
return before long,” said Mervielle. “Will you be
sorry when I go?” “I will be very lonely,” the girl re-
plied, “but do you go soon?” “Yes, tomorrow, our
work is now all finished. It was finished two days
ago. You have kept me here since then.” “Me?”
questionably said Bright Eyes. “Yes, you,” an-
swered Mervielle. “I find it hard to leave you. I
can’t leave you forever,” and he told her of his love;
of his desire to make her his wife; of his wish to take
238
her to his home in France. “My father is a nobleman
there,” he said. “He is the owner of large estates and
upon his death I will succeed to his title and a great
part of his fortune,” and he drew for her a picture
of the grand life that would be hers, a happy life in
that different world to her. It needed not that pic-
ture of wealth to win the consent of the Indian
maiden to go with him. She knew only one world
that was the forest world, in which she had spent
her entire life. She loved it, she loved her home
and her people, but she loved the young French
officer better. Her whole heart was his; she would
trust him; she would do anything to always be with
him; she would go. And then Mervielle explained
he wanted to give her plenty of time to weigh the
matter well in her mind. He wished her to take
the step knowing what it meant—a separation from
her own people, the leading of a different sort of
life. He must go on the morrow to Quebec. His
duties called him there for the immediate comple-
tion of the work in which he had been engaged. He
would return in two moons and take her to Quebec
and there they would be married. On the morrow
when the canoe left the Miami village with Mervielle
and his companion and Indian guide, and plowed the
waters of the Maumee an Indian maiden stood on
the shore and watched it until it was out of sight.
The two moons had almost passed and Bright Eyes
waited and watched for her lover’s return. He did
not come. But with love’s faith she knew he would
not disappoint her. One day she was seated along
the river’s bank, their favorite meeting place think-
ing of him and the happiness that would be theirs,
when, turning a bend in the river she saw a canoe
approaching. A lone occupant she said to herself.
“T wonder if it is he.” <A thrill of joy came to her
only to be crushed on a nearer approach of the boat
gliding swiftly over the waters. “No,” she said. “It’s
an Indian.” Nearer and nearer the canoe came and
then she recognized the occupant as the Indian
guide, who had been with Mervielle at the village.
Hope and fear struggled in her heart. Did he bring
239
good or bad news? As the canoe reached the point
where she was seated it turned to the shore and she
was there to greet him as the Indian landed. “You
come from him,” she said. ‘‘Yes,” the Indian replied,
and then the Indian gave her the message he was
sent to deliver. Mervielle was ill—not seriously so,
he said, but his illness made it unwise for him to
come to her. He wanted her to come to him. It
was miles away, many miles across land and across
the great lake at a point on the Detroit river near
to Lake Erie. There he would be waiting for her
and they would go to Detroit to be married. The
Indian guide explained that if her people knew of
her intentions to join Mervielle they would oppose
her going. “They would kill me,” he said, hence it
would be best to go secretly if she decided to leave
with him. Such he said had been Mervielle’s in-
structions. Would she go? Think well, before an-
swering me, he said. I will take a smoke, and then
Bright Eyes can answer me, and leaving her he
walked a few paces away, threw himself on a grassy
spot and took out his pipe. He had been smoking:
only a few minutes when the Miami girl came over
to him and in a voice expressive of fixed determina-
tion and the consciousness of having done the right
thing, said, “I will go.” “When?” asked the Indian.
“Now,” she replied. “If we wait’”—pointing toward
the Indian village, “they will defeat any plans we
might make. We will goat once. I love my people,
but I love my lover more,” she said, and stepped into
the canoe with the Indian emissary. They were soon
speeding through the waters toward Detroit. For
days and weeks the Miamis searched the woods and
the banks of the rivers for her and then they gave
up the task as a hopeless one. Bright Eyes was
dead, they said. Drowned in the river or devoured
by wild beasts, or possibly carried away captive by
the Iroquois, one of the nations of Indians with which
they had been at war.
Mervielle was waiting for her. His love for the
Indian maiden was not the love dream of an hour, it
was deep seated and lasting. It was true love, and
240
when after her long journey he met her at the rivers
shore, his greeting was, “I knew you would come,”
and her reply was: “I could do nothing else.” Mer-
vielle had about recovered from his illness—a bad
cold he had contracted from exposures, and the
next day with the Indian girl he left for Quebec,
where they were married by a Jesuit Missionary.
Quebec had been a French settlement since 1608.
His exploration trips Mervielle told the girl he had
decided to give up, he would be kept in Quebec, prob-
ably for a year. During that time she was to study
the French language, so that when she went to
France to live she would be able to converse. She
made wonderful advancement in the acquirement
of the new language, and their life in a cottage by
the river’s side near to the forest was a happy one.
Mervielle’s work in Canada ended, they sailed for
France where he gave up his commission in the army,
and they went to live on an estate in the southern
part of the country which his father had given him.
There a son was born to them, and within a year,
due largely to the exposure during his life in Amer-
ica, Mervielle took ill with a fever and died. Then
came the troubles of Bright Eyes. While Mervielle
lived his strong personality was sufficient to protect
her from the disrespect felt by his sisters toward
her on accoynt of her Indian blood. But when he
died this broke into a storm of hate, and they did all
in their power to injure her. Only the elder Mer-
vielle, her husband’s father, Count Mervielle, was
true to her. He treated her like a daughter and was
deeply attached to her son, who bore his name Juan,
and for whom he repeatedly said he would do great
things in the way of future advancement. This
the sisters and a brother were determined to pre-
vent. A plot was formed to ruin Bright Eyes in
their father’s favor by convincing him that she was
unfaithful. In this way they succeeded, and in a
passion the father told her to leave. Take the
Indian brat and go, he said. He did not care where
they went only that they were out of his sight.
This aroused all of her Indian spirit of her na-
241
ture. Her heart cried out for revenge against those
whom she knew had poisoned his mind against her,
but the passion was only for a moment, and then
heartsore and homeless she determined to take him
at his word. Some day she said, I hope you will
know the truth. I loved your son too well to visit
my revenge on your family, the Bible he taught me
to read has taught me that vengeance belongs to
God. That night, when sleep had closed his eyes and
ears of all others in the castle, Bright Eyes and her
infant son stole out into the darkness and left to re-
join her tribe at the Miami village. It was a big
journey, but she accomplished it successfully.
She was welcomed back, but she had lost her
Indian cheer and brightness. She had loved her
lover husband with her whole heart. Now her
affections were centered in their son and she lived
until he was old enough to understand the story of
her life, which she told him; the incidents which led
up to her marriage, of his birth and of her reasons
for leaving France. She then died without know-
ing throughout all these years that Count Mervielle
had repented of his hasty action and had searched
for her and her son. She did not know that he had
obtained convincing proof of her innocence and
desired to make atonement for the wrong. She did
not know that one of the daughters were dead and
that on her dying bed had made a confession that
the surviving son had been killed in a drunken
brawl, and that the father wished to make her son
(his grandson) the heir to his title and estates. And
young Juan Mervielle did not know it until the age
of fifteen. A French emissary who had been sent
out by his grandfather in France to search for him
and his mother, and who finally found him with the
Miamis, told him the story in detail. It was while
at Quebec, that by accident he met the priest who
performed the ceremony uniting his mother and
father in marriage and learned from him that it was
altogether probable that he would find her here.
“Count Mervielle,’” he continued, ‘was greatly de-
ceived. He was grieved over the wrong done your
242
mother and you. It is the one great desire of his now
rapidly closing life to atone for it. He wants both of
you back with him before he dies.”’ “My mother can
never return to him,” said the young man. “She is
dead and in that heaven that your missionaries tell
us about.” “Well,” replied the Frenchman, ‘your
grandfather would be happy to have you with him.
You would be his heir inheriting his estates; you
would be one of the great men in France, Count
Mervielle. Let me tell you what that.would mean,”
and then the French representative drew a word
picture of the life that would be his. A picture
that appealed strongly to his ambition for his moth-
er had told him much about the French and France,
and of the higher opportunities of civilized life.
Mervielle thought long before giving the French-
man his final answer, then with tears in his eyes,
brought there by the memories of his mother’s love
and with keen compassion for the old man in France,
who was yearning for his return. He said, “Go
back and tell my forefather that his Indian grand-
son forgives him with his whole heart for whatever
wrong he may have done my mother or myself, and
that the temptation is great to return to him.
I thank him for all of the love, and for all he would
like to do for me, but tell him I will remain with
my mother’s people’. The French barrister was
dumfounded. He could hardly believe he heard the
young Indian aright to refuse a title to the nobility
of France, and the wealth that the change of life
would bring to him. ‘‘Refuse assured ease, comfort,
honor, happiness, that would be yours all the rest of
your days, and remain to live and die among uncul-
tured, uncivilized people, and remain a savage when
such a future was within your reach, and one that
was handed to you without the asking. Have you
considered all of this?” asked the barrister. “I have
thought well,” replied the young man. “My mind is
made up. I ‘will remain with my mother’s people.”
And thus the Frenchman left the young Juan Mer-
vielle and went back to France to the old grand-
father, who had driven his son’s wife from him.
243
THE ROMANCE OF ENSIGN HOLMES AND WAN-ET-A.
In the early history of old Fort Miami and the
Miami Indians there was no more romantic charac-
ter than Ensign Holmes, who, after the Enytish
acquisition of the old Northwest Territory, was sent
to this post with a detachment of British soldiers
to garrison the fort. His force consisted of about
twenty men—a portion of the Sixtieth English
Rifles—a regiment known as the Royal Americans
and composed largely of Scotch Highlanders. This
regiment had been sent from England to Quebec in
1759 just after the surrender of the French garri-
son at that fortress, and was later transferred to
Detroit. ?
It was during the early part of 1760 that Ensign
Holmes was sent with his small command from
Detroit to guard old Fort Miami on the present site
of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This post together with
those on the Great Lakes had come into English
hands as a result of the recent French and Indian
War. Ensign Holmes was one of the youngest
officers of his regiment, brave and handsome, a
member of an aristocratic English family. As was
frequently the case in England at that time he had
chosen the life of a soldier as a regular occupation.
The detachment of soldiers under his command,
while not large, was considered sufficient. The
hostile spirit of the Indians manifested before and
during the recent war had subsided somewhat. As
a rule they were quiet and this condition prevailed
for nearly two years after the arrival of the British
soldiers. A Jesuit missionary who visited the post
at this period wrote as follows:
“This post, Fort Miami, is commanded by Ensign
Holmes. And here I can but remark on the for-
lorn situation of the officers as I found them at the
different garrisons isolated in the wilderness hun-
dreds of miles, in some instances, from any congen-
ial associations, separated from the sort of life to
which they had long been accustomed.
“Under such circumstances and with such sur-
244
roundings it is not strange that these relieved the
monotony of their everyday life by love flirtations
with some of the comely Indian maidens. At least
such was the case with Ensign Holmes. The In-
dian sweetheart of Holmes, known to the soldiers
at the garrison as Wan-et-a, was the granddaughter
of Wa-wa-tam, the Indian Chieftain. She was a
fair Miami maiden whose beauty had won the hearts
of many of the young warriors of the tribe.
“It was some months after his arrival that the at-
tention of the young Ensign was first attracted to
the Indian girl. Standing on the river bank near
the fort he saw her paddling her birchbark canoe
up the river. She had gone only a rod or two when
she turned to the opposite shore and alighting, lifted
the light boat from the waters and carried it up
the steep bank to a point some fifteen feet distant.
There amidst some fallen timber and underbrush
she hid it from view in one of the many similar
nooks she had for this purpose. Waneta loved the
river and the forest and frequently, with her rifle
slung from her shoulder, rowed the one and roamed
the other, going miles from the village to which she
often returned richly laden with game for she was
accounted one of the best shots among the Miamis.
As she wandered back to the river bank again on
this eventful occasion and passed along to the thick
woods she presented a handsome picture to the Brit-
ish officer on the opposite shore. He stood en-
tranced and carried away her picture in his mind
—carried it for days until one bright morning in
September when he met her face to face in the
woods. She had shot and killed a young deer and
was standing near it, gun in hand, getting ready to
drag it to her boat at the river’s edge some distance
away. She expressed such as her intention soon
after Ensign Holmes came upon her. “I will help
you’’, said he, and together they carried the carcass
of the deer to the river and placed it in the canoe.
Then, with the gallantry characteristic of the re-
fined and cultured English officers of his time, he
245
assisted her into the boat and she was soon on her
way down the river to the village.
The two, this Indian maiden and the young com-
mandant needed no formal introduction. Each
knew who the other was. Ensign Holmes was well
known among the Miamis and the Miami girl
known by the soldiers at the fort had already won a
place in the thoughts of the officer which ere long
seized strongly on his affections. The relation of
the story of how their acquaintance ripened into
love would be but the repetition of the story so well
known by many who were lovers once, lovers yet
with so very many, after one, two or three score of
years have passed in their happy married lives. In
her rambles through the woods and along the rivers
the young officer, by design on his part, often man-
aged to meet her and it was not long before their
meetings were of an almost daily occurrence. Such
continued to be the case for weeks and months, the
Indian girl happy in her innocence and the officer
content in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the
hour. He loved her well because she was a beau-
tiful wild flower and because he had nothing else
to do. She loved him because he was handsome
and brave and poured in her ears words that were
pleasant to listen to. She knew she was only really
happy when in his company. Hers was an honest,
pure love, his may or may not have been that. That
hers was not an illicit love is the testimony of Mrs.
Laura Suttenfield, the pioneer mother of Fort
Wayne, to whom I have before referred in this work.
Mrs. Suttenfield says, ““The two were married, al-
though the fact was not generally known among tke
Miamis. They were married by the missionaries,
and intended to keep the matter a secret until the
time came for Ensign Holmes to be relieved of his
post at Fort Miami for other duties at Montreal,
Canada. Whether this was true or not, a son was
born to this Indian girl, and it was the generally
expressed opinion that Ensign Holmes was his fath-
er. He grew up to be a drunken, worthless fellow
and met his death at Raccoon village, near Fort
246
Wayne, which was then the Miami village, in a
drunken affray with another Indian.”
The early part of the year 1763 brought the
threatening clouds that culminated in what is known
in history as the Pontiac conspiracy, the plot formed
among the Indians to wrest from the English the
forts held by the latter in the northwest.
Ensign Holmes was among the first of the com-
mandants of these forts or trading posts (the others
being located at St. Joseph, Michilmackinac, San--
dusky, Presque Isle, Ouiatenon, Green Bay and
Detroit), to hear the muttering preceding this war
storm. His information of the threat of personal
harm to himself and something concerning the plot
to attack Fort Miami came from Waneta. She had
heard the warriors among the Miamis talking about
it. Hidden from view she had listened to the plot
discussed at one of their councils and hurrying to
Holmes informed him of the danger and told as
much of the details as she could learn. ‘“They mean
you harm’, said the Indian girl, “they intend to
attack the fort’. And then she told him that the
bloody belt, the emblem of war against the whites
had been passed around the various tribes and fin-
ally received at the local settlement. Holmes had
faith in the girl, and brave in the performance of
duty, called some of the leading Miamis into a coun-
cil with him, when he openly told them of his dis-
covery of their plot. The Indians denied every-
thing. They said no bloody belt had been received
by them and that they were in no way parties to a
plot to attack the fort. But Holmes was not satis-
fied, and immediately began an investigation, which
resulted in the finding of the bloody belt. Then he
again called the Miami leaders together. Finally,
with assurances of their continued friendship for
the English, they admitted the receipt of the bloody
belt, but said they had no guilty part in the affair
and had no intentions of joining in the plot. This
was in March, two months before the capture by
the Indians of any of the forts in this region. En-
sign Holmes had previously informed Major Glad-
247
win, the commandant at Detroit of the probable
existence of the plot to attack the forts and now,
feeling. that he had nipped the plot in its bud, he
sent him a letter of which the following is a copy:
Fort Miami, March 30, 1763.
~ Dear Major:
“Since my last letter to you wherein I acquainted
you with the existence of the bloody belt in this vil-
lage, I have made a search and found the story to be
true. I assembled the Chiefs together and after a
troublesome time with them obtained the belt which
with a speech you will receive inclosed.
“This affair is very timely stopped and I hope the
news of the peace will put a stop to any further
trouble with these Indians who are the principal
ones in setting the mischief on foot. JI send you the
belt with this package which I hope you will for-
ward to the General.”
Nearly two months passed and no harm came to
Ensign Holmes and no attack was made on the
fort. The English soldiers were watchful, however,
and distrustful. And yet Holmes braved danger
every day and hour, he moved among the Miamis
seeming not to fear harm at their hands despite
the cautions of his fort companions. It was on the
night of May 27, 1763, that the fatal hour came to
him. The plot was ripe for the Indians to seize
the fort and with the cunning characteristic of their
race they accomplished it successfully. This is the
story as told by Brice, the historian, in his ‘History
of Fort Wayne’’:
“The Indian girl with whom Holmes had been
intimate for some time and in whom he had confi-
dence, by compulsion on the part of the Indians,
came to the fort and told Holmes, who was well
versed in medicine and the treatment of diseases
there was a sick squaw laying in a wigwam not far
distant who had expressed a desire to have him
come and see her. Holmes, ever ready to help in
such cases and not suspecting that it was a trap on
the part of the Indians, hastened to comply with
248
the request and left the fort with the girl. They
had passed the open space in front of the fort and
were just entering the woods when the crack of
two rifles was heard and Holmes fell to the ground
dead. The shots aroused the guards and soldiers
at the fort and the sergeant on duty rushed ouf to
ascertain the cause. He had gone but a few steps
when with triumphant shouts the Indians who had
been concealed rushed on him and made him a cap-
tive. This brought the soldiers within the fort,
nine in all, to the palisades of the garrison who clam-
ored up to see the movements without, when a Cana-
dian named Godfrei and two other white men
stepped defiantly forth and demanded the sur-
render of the fort. The assurance was given the
soldiers that if this demand was complied with their
lives would be spared, but if refused all of them
would be killed without mercy. Without a com-
mander, without hope of making a successful re-
sistance and fearing to hesitate the soldiers com-
plied with the demand and the garrison gate swung
open on its hinges. The surrender was complete.”
One account is that all of the soldiers in the fort
were killed. I am unable to find any verification
of this statement in the researches I have made.
From this account of Mr. Brice the reader is led
to conclude that the Miami girl, Waneta, was will-
ingly in the plot of the Indians to bring about the
death of Holmes. Such, Mrs. Suttenfield, who re-
lated to me this story, did not believe to be true as
she had seen and talked to the Indian girl fre-
quently. Mrs. Suttenfield says the Indians, know-
ing her devotion to the British Ensign, were care-
ful to conceal from the Indian girl] all knowledge of
their intentions to do harm to Holmes. The tragedy
of the night was as much of a surprise to her as it
was to the soldiers in the garrison. Holmes did not
keep himself locked continuously behind the garri-
son gates. He was not afraid of danger, but was
frequently even during the last few days of his life
out in the open in the evenings walking with the
girl. It is true they were going to the hut of the
old sick squaw that night. They had paid her
249
visits before. She was a friend of the girl and
the latter took Holmes to see her, and his visits had
always been a benefit to the old Indian woman. The
murderous conspirators among the Indians knew of
these visits and the time being ripe for the execu-
tion of their determination to seize the fort, they
chose this night and this way to accomplish the
death of the British commandant. To connect the
Miami girl in any guilty way with the plot to ac-
complish the death of Holmes does not seem rea-
sonable. In such a love test with her Indian nature
she would have been true to her lover. She had
proved it by her previous actions.
Waneta knew from whose rifles had come the
two bullets that had pierced the skull of the young
officer, and in the execution of her Indian nature
revenge was the only solace she had for the death
of her lover that she carried through her long, long
life.
Within a week after the capture of Fort Miami
a young Indian warrior was found dead in the
woods, a bullet directly through his heart. Another
disappeared from sight and was never heard of
afterward. Both were jealous lovers of the Miami
sirl. She knew who killed the one and why the
other disappeared and the Miamis in the village
also knew. A few years after the events narrated
above when the troubles with the Indians in the
Northwest had been settled and peace had been
restored between the French and English with the
safety to the latter, it brought an elderly gentleman
evidently from the wealthy class, who came here
looking for his son. He was the father of Ensign
Holmes. He had waited long and anxiously for his
return to his home in England and hearing of his
death immediately started for this country. The
Indian troubles prevented his coming to this region.
Now these troubles over, he was here to find, if
possible, where the remains of his son were buried
and pay a father’s tribute of tears to his memory.
He felt, he said, that such a visit would appease
in some degree the grief of the mother who had
watched and waited in vain for the son’s return.
THE END.
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